It happened to be a Monday, but more significantly, it was my 5th day of work in a row, which was completely unusual for my part-time working lifestyle. (call me a wimp, but I just haven't been used to a 35 hour work week this past year)
Now, it happens that we have weekly tasks, and after looking at the list, I went, gasping excitedly to Anna, "Can I water the plants?!" Slightly puzzled, she says, "sure."
The thing is, I don't usually work on Mondays, so I'd never seen the plants being watered, and I was kind of like, "how do you stay alive, pretty plants?" because they are quite lovely for coffee shop plants..
Anyway, a part of me was like, "I should know how to water plants - i won't ask for specific instructions."... But after the second potted tree, Anna comes over and asks, "how much water did you put in?" Not sure how to describe the amount, I say, "I guess only a little bit?" She takes the jug and splashes over half onto the plant's roots.
"They only get watered once a week," she explained. Then with a little smile she says, "how would you like to only drink once a week?" To which I laugh at, as I go to get more water.
Now in the shop, we have two leather booths that are back to back and in between them is a line of large, stiff plants that look fairly like they should live under the sea, somehow.
So, I go to water them. And I Wish, Really wish the punch line of this story was that somehow these plants were actually fake or something like that. But no - no, i watered these very real plants with Anna's words replaying in my head, "how would you like to only drink once a week?" Gosh, I wouldn't like it at all! About 2.5 jugs later I was sufficiently satisfied that this line of plants would be thoroughly quenched, and then continued to meet the rest of my lovely, new photosynthesizing friends.
About 6 minutes after I'd finished my delightful task, the unthinkable happened. Clearing a table near the booth, I notice to my horror that there is a puddle of water oozing out of the side of the wood base of the booth. Shoot.
And you know those moments where problem solving is just far too challenging, because you're so embarrassed at the mistake you've just made? After staring at the puddle for about 4 seconds longer than necessary, I went to get the mop and "caution: wet floor" sign.
Mopping went okay, except that 2 minutes later, the water kept oozing out of the wood.
Okay, so... tactic number 2: use lots of blue rags to clot this awful wound. I watched, with all hope as the water seeped into the dry rags and seem to hold. So, I went back to frothing milk or making change at the till, my eye straying worriedly to the aisle with yellow caution sign, and to my dismay the puddle inching out again and defying my clever rag scheme.
You know those times when you make a mistake, but there's really no way to fix it, besides cleaning up the aftermath mess. Yup. that was me. And so the oozing continued all day long.
Thankfully, we were rather un-busy all day, and I more hoped than believed that one day, this would make a funny tale to tell.
Little did I know that one of the most amusing moments of my time in Dublin was going to happen a few hours later...
After my oozing water incident, I was honestly quite grumpy. It didn't help that I had to walk much farther that day, because I had to buy another bus pass, which Inconveniently just rose in price that day.
Then waiting for the bus, I was perched on the thin bench when these teens come swooping in from the shopping center. I scoot to the edge to allow them space. And for reasons i'm still unsure of, the red-haired kid next to me began making pretend puking noises.
Um, okay..
So I get up and precede to see if the bus is coming, by any miracle. Noticing that his mute neighbor has fled, the red-head kid jumps up to stand Rather close to me, to the teenage giggles of two of his friends. He says something, but having endured an unusually annoying day, I'm too preoccupied with ignoring them all to remember what it was.
I hate being laughed at, even by teenagers.
And then, the unthinkable happened. With an absolute smirk on my face, I turn to this kid, who was still standing close enough, and I decided in that moment that I would make the most of this situation. I would show them!
"where're you guys headed?" I asked cooly.
He kind of blinked, "Maynooth."
"Oh wow, i am too," which was true.
... and so we preceded to have a conversation. And I even invited him to the next Maynooth Teen Space event that I was leading (where I volunteer with youth). Eventually the bus came though, and I climbed up to the top, rather amused at the turn of events, and excited that I hadn't allowed their mockery to get to me.
And then I heard it from below:
"Yeah, she was from America."
"who? oh that girl who was talkin to ya?"
"Yeah, we actually had a decent enough conversation."
"Wow, Connor, you're so sociable.. I always knew, that's how you're going to find your True Love!" and by this time I am nearly laughing out loud. How old did they think I was??
And then, the girls' voice again:
"Let's go and find your true love!" and then the beat of feet bounding up the stairs.
WOW. True Love. that's intense.
Thankfully, the troop of them passed without recognizing me, but my own conversationalist friend was the last to climb the steps. And, the poor fella- he Actually managed to stumble up the stairs, and unable to suppress my grin, I utter the single syllable, "Hi."
"Hey" he breathes, and marches on.
Then, upon exiting the bus, the group of them sort of clumped together outside the bus, and as I moved to cross the street, I heard one of the friends' voices, "where is she goin?"
But, convinced it was far better to be mysterious than to join their 15-year old babble, I kept on the move, smirking and shaking my head. Oh, to be the topic of conversation for some teenagers on the bus.. :)
