Because of this distaste for mornings, my job has been both a blessing and a curse. I love it to pieces but it begins at 8 AM . . . far too early for me to be "pleasant company" but at the same time, that doesn't matter because for two hours I'm virtually all alone in the museum. This means that I don't exactly need any social graces. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but the dinosaurs don't exactly care. However, this all changes at 10 AM when the museum officially opens for business and for two hours I have to be consciously aware of the fact that my natural face looks like I'm about ready to murder someone and then keel over dead myself.
After five months of working, I'm proud to say that I had gotten in the habit of smiling at everyone. In fact, sometimes I will be at the store and I will stare someone down with a big smile on my face until they, sensing the creepy smiling stalker, look up and smile in return. But this all changed when, for about three weeks, I didn't have to wake up at 6:30 in order to get to work on time. I was sleeping in till almost 9:00 for almost three weeks and it was absolute bliss. But then tulip festival ended, and my hours at the gardens got cut back. I'm back at the museum (which I have absolutely missed) and have found that my smiling habit have all but disappeared. In fact, I'm almost so out of it with the return to the morning schedule that I seem almost robotic in nature and thought.
Here is a tidbit of something that legitimately ran through my mind only a few days ago.
I was walking through the Discovery Room to get to the back where the cleaning supplies are kept. A woman was walking towards me with her son in tow. She was a happy, cheerful sort of person and so of course she was smiling as she walked closer. Time seemed to physically slow down as I processed the scene before me.
"Okay. The woman is smiling. What do I do next? Proper human reaction is to smile back. Ah! Smile."
And so I smiled, time sped back up and I went on my merry and robotic way.
I swear. Some of my most insightful and enlightening moments occur when I'm half conscious and wandering through the museum.
On that note, here are some fun creations I've found at work. The museum's great for kids, but sometimes I think that parents get just a tad bit bored.
