Cranky for Chocolate

Yesterday was very stressful and all I wanted all day was chocolate. I resisted, but felt on the edge of giving in all day long. In the middle of my stress, I was asked to take an item to the mail store for delivery. I went to a store where I thought they would package the item up for me, but according to the disinterested clerk, I was wrong. I had to get a box and the stuffing and do it myself. So I shopped around and found my box and the stuffing and paid for it. When I went back to the shipping section I asked the clerk if I could have some tape and she told me that I would have to pay for it, $1 per strip. Well I needed about 3 or 4 strips and I was not about to pay that kind of money for so little tape, so I decided to buy a roll. As I went to get the tape, I snapped at the clerk and said, "It would have been helpful to know that I had to buy the tape at the same time I had to buy the box & the stuffing. You're not very helpful". All this anger, where did it come from? It was all because I was stressed out and frustrated because I could not soothe myself with chocolate.

After I got the box together I was feeling bad about my reaction to the clerk. It was not her fault that I was cranky for chocolate. So when I got back to the counter, I tried to put a smile on my face and be polite. Well the clerk was not buying it and she was a little short with me.

Just a half hour earlier, my friend and I were talking about how you are "known by your last act". As I walked out of the store I realized that this clerk probably thought I was a witch and to her I would be known as a witch!! My behavior told her so.

When I left the store, I soon felt a prompting from the Lord that I needed to do something to rectify the situation. I had quite the conversation with Him explaining and justifying my behavior. "She was rude first", "I will probably never see her again", "Nobody I know saw me act that way" etc. As I got to my car, I felt an extreme prompting to go back to the nearby bookstore and buy the clerk something. Of course, the debate went on with the Lord as I explained that I only had a $20 allowance for the month and I could not "afford" to spend money on someone I did not know. Besides she was cranky too. I got to my car and almost drove away.

Before I could take off, I felt myself agreeing to go to the bookstore to "look" for something to give her. Even before I got to the door, I told the Lord, "If there is a line, I'm not doing this". Well of course, when I got into the store there was a line. So I begrudgingly got into the line with my purchase, a chocolate bar, for my abused package clerk!

Once I got outside of the bookstore, I really debated on whether I could actually make it to the packaging store without eating the chocolate bar myself. But I did not eat it! I not only got into the store, but I found the clerk. Secretly I was hoping she would not be there. She saw me coming and I knew what she was thinking ~ Oh know! It's her again! I went right up to her and said, "Here is a little gift for you, please forgive me for being so rude."

Well you should have seen the look on her face. She brightened right up and got the biggest smile on her face. She kind of got embarrassed and I said, "Sometimes I just don't know what gets into me." Well I kind of know why I did it, but I could not tell her that I was Cranky for Chocolate.

We are all known by our last act. What impression have you left behind?

Hugs?