Aggravation

Little things, big things, many things and a few things can cause one to get aggravated. I will try to list a few things that bother folks now and then.

When this reporter purchases Hubby’s dress shirts, the aggravation begins. Before he could try a shirt on for size and color, one had to follow the maze.

First, remove the shirt from its plastic bag. Unfold the shirt and remove cardboard and tissue paper from the back folds. Now, carefully remove the straight pins holding sleeves in place. I counted eight pins and they weren’t easy to find!

There is a clear plastic strip inside the collar, a really hard plastic tab over the top button to hold the collar in place and another straight pin. Just when one thinks the shirt is ready to try on, the lightweight cardboard inside the collar needs to be removed.

Unbuttoning a new shirt is no easy task either. The price tag/name tag is usually placed through the second buttonhole with a hard plastic tie that needs to be cut off with scissors. This reporter finds it easier to unbutton a shirt if one begins at the bottom and works up.

After all this work, the shirt (if it fits) needs to be ironed or washed before wearing to get out the numerous wrinkles. I prefer washing and drying before wearing because no ironing seems to remove those set-in wrinkles.

The worst scenario happens if the shirt doesn’t fit. One then has to refold the shirt so it will somehow fit back into the plastic bag. This is when one needs to forget the pins, plastic, cardboard and tissue paper.

Can you imagine working in a factory and your job would be to fold men’s shirts ready for shipping? Now, that would be more aggravation!

Another recent aggravation was finding a parking space while visiting at Lynchburg General Hospital. It’s worse than hunting for a space at Walmart. At Walmart, customers come and go but at hospitals people tend to stay longer to visit patients or even to stay with them. A vacant space at the hospital parking lot is rare and some drivers seeking a parking space seem to get vicious!

Check-out lines in large grocery stores can be an aggravation. Why are there twenty check-out lanes when only two at each end are open? Whenever I seem to be in a hurry, folks with over-loaded baskets are in every check-out lane. I vote to have the twenty item or less lanes monitored so folks with those few items can’t get aggravated.

In our small town, why do folks take up the whole road entrance when leaving the post office, making it impossible for one to enter from the street? Now, that’s aggravation!

Why do folks pull out in front of your car just to travel two driveways down the road? I tell you, that’s true aggravation.

If you’ve traveled to Lynchburg lately, when do you think the streets will be fixed? I suppose it will be about the same time as the bridge between Charlotte C.H. and Drakes Branch is completed. It is conspiracy and aggravation, you know.

We need light bulb maintenance. Why is it when one replaces a burned out bulb, three other bulbs burn out within a week in another part of the house? It is called aggravation or let’s keep China working.

If you are one who easily gets aggravated, follow these simple steps. Take a deep breath, say a small prayer, and let this aggravation pass. Smile and be friendly. You will be surprised at the return smiles that you will receive.