Today when I walked into the lounge for the volunteer shift there were only two people sitting in there. One heavily accented lady from an unknown country (I need some cultural education here people, I want to say Czech Republic, but that would just be a very uneducated guess) and one heavily accented Jamaican (this is a guess too) lady. I politely said, "Good morning" and carried on with the lounge opening duties of making coffee, stocking cupboards, etc.
I'm figuring out that the lounge can either be a talkative place where people are bustling in and out grabbing food to eat quickly, talking on their cell phones, checking their e-mails, or it can be a very quiet place. Today it was calm. People were waiting. Babies were in surgery and they were exhaustedly waiting until they knew something more. Heads doze. Eyes shut. Silence. Ominous silence. All except for the TV, which today was turned to All My Children. Why such a channel and who chose it? I don't know.
One of the commercials popped on and announced that the next guest on a certain show (I was half paying attention) was going to be Jason Mesnick, the latest hated bachelor from reality TV. The commercial ended and the Jamaican lady, who had been quietly waiting for news about her baby, pipes up to me and says, "What iz da big deal with this bachelor?"
We are told in training for the RMH that the coffee, snacks, drinks, are all just a means to help people who are going through this hard time with their babies. If they need an ear to listen or a shoulder to cry on, we stop what we are doing and be there for them.
I followed protocol and cheerfully filled this lady in on everything that she had missed about this latest bachelor. She hung on my every word and drank it in. I have to say that it has been the best bachelor conversation that I have had in person (not just online trigirl82:), as the person on the other end was clearly very invested and interested in what I was saying. In short, we developed a bond. A short, very brief bond where she shook her head and said something to the effect of, "I thought he was such a nice guy." and we discussed the fundamentals of marriage and how if you pick someone to marry, you "don't have 'cha eeyz out for another wooman." (That's my attempt at typing the accent. I'll work on it.) The conversation ended with something to the effect of "There will always be another woman." and "I hope he's happy." and then we were done.
I like to think that for just those few moments, that lady wasn't worrying about her baby and got to take her mind off of something that can't be changed. Had I not watched the entire season of the bachelor (yes, I'm sure the entire season was important for that conversation) then that would have been 10-15 minutes more of worry that that lady would have endured today. Instead though, I was able to engage her in a conversation and make her feel better. Thank you reality TV for all you do for us. I'm sure the Ronald McDonald House appreciates my services.
Me: Making the Ronald McDonald House brighter every Monday-since last week.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Reality TV: Why it makes you a better person.
Posted by honestgrl at 11:31 AM
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
True, true. It was disappointing. I like that you guys ended it by still wishing him to be happy in the end. Haha. I'm sure she appreciated the distraction. You're such a great volunteer. You should probably make sure to watch the Bachelorette when it comes on so you can brighten yet another person's day. :-)
Fantastic! t was definitely worth while. ;-) I was very happy to see a ton of blogs about it, not just yours and mine. So there. Booyah.. and stuff. ;-)
Momma's boys, I'm not so sure. I couldn't get past the first 15 minutes of the first episode. I'm sorry, but from what I saw, those mothers were entirely too involved in everything. Disturbing. You should blog about it. hehe. :-)
I'm not entirely sure what you or she was trying to say. I'm bad at reading an accent I guess.
Please don't suggest that she watch the Bachelorette.
I can't do another run of this nonsense.
Hey I forgot to tell you... they called me and did the whole "she listed you as a reference". I can't believe you're still working there ;-)
Just kidding I left a glowing, and warm review with all 6 of the multiple choice questions they asked me. :-)
I do find it funny thought that they qualify you by "have you been arrested" and "which of these 6 words best describes [insert candidate name here].
Oh... and what happened to voting me on that show? That would be the worst rated season EVER. Or the best.
Good story, way to put your pop culture knowledge to good use.
I was rooting for the girl who won, but weirdly, as soon as he dumped the other one, I wanted her to win! I am guilty of flopping even after it should have been too late. I'm glad it happened the way it did. I dont even know why! I just liked Molly. I like the way you write. Its easy to read, like the EXCITING book I have been reading and havent hardly been able to put down.
Post a Comment