Wag More, Bark Less

After I left the shopping mall where I realized that I had pathetically complained to the poor clerk who was stuck working over the holiday weekend about something clearly out of her control, I wondered at how suddenly my crabbiness had crept up on me. Sometimes when this happens there is a little warning and I can abort my plans and go hide out at home and perhaps just take a well-needed nap, but other times it comes upon me like a mugger in the back seat of my car, telling me to keep driving. 

Crabbiness comes in all forms. One day I was at my gym heading into the locker room when I heard a woman humming in the shower. This woman hums a total of four songs, only one of which is recognizable to me: Over the Rainbow. She showers for a good twenty minutes and hums the same song over and over. My reaction that day was to consider showering at home. 

Crabbiness. 

As I stood there pondering my decision, another woman who I talk to frequently asked what was wrong. I laughed and told her my dilemma. I told her my reaction was ridiculous but I couldn't seem to shake my annoyance. She laughed and told me that someone had complained about this very woman to the front desk. She then proceeded to tell me about another three or four other incidents, one about a guest who is frighteningly loud and many people had complained, another about a woman who screamed and called my friend a weirdo after she had opened the shower curtain thinking it was unoccupied, another about a woman erupting into song on the elliptical and even of a woman who did sit ups in the dry sauna. 

We could have complained about another dozen things that people do in the locker room that are rude and annoying. But we both smiled and adopted a more peaceful attitude. I stayed and showered that day, feeling more patient and accommodating. 

My complaint to the clerk at the mall was at how expensive clothes were now. How silly it was to complain to this woman who obviously had nothing to do with prices. Of course, the woman probably complained about me after I left the store. 

As I left the gym today, I saw a car parked next to mine with a bumper sticker that perfectly summed up everything: 

Wag More, Bark Less.