I was too tired to write this after working by myself from 8 to 11 Friday night, so I’m talking about it now on Sunday morning.

Generally, our customers are pleasant people just looking for a little help or a custom color for their project. However, for the second time in two months, I had a customer that I felt was dangerous. Remember the first episode with the botched blue paint job?

This one was female, about mid-twenties, thin and intense. She asked for a paint with good coverage, so I showed her the Marquee brand, one of our most expensive. She got angry, and wanted to know if there was a cheaper brand. I took her to the PPG/Glidden aisle, and she accused me of trying to rip her off by selling her the higher priced brand.

At this point, I started to get a really bad vibe from this woman. I suggested she take the Behr color chip she’d selected and go for a PPG color instead, since it’s usually not a good idea to mix colors and brands – you’re never quite sure it’s going to be exact because of the different components of the paint. She picked alternate colors, and after I’d mixed her paint, demanded to know why she couldn’t have the Behr color in her PPG paint. I tried to explain to her that it wasn’t a good idea, but all I really wanted was for her to just go away. That’s how bad she made me feel in her presence. The strain I was feeling was quite intense, just from standing within two feet of this woman.

Finally, she left. After my heart stopped racing, I wondered if this woman had that effect on others? If so, I speculated on how many opportunities she’d missed out on with her attitude and behavior. Even if I’d wanted to try to help her mix colors, my brain had shut off by then: I was incapable of thinking through how to give her what she wanted.

So I suppose it all goes back to the old adage about catching more flies with honey than vinegar. In her mind, she likely thought she was being assertive. Based on all I know, she was displaying the kind of aggressiveness that earns the name assigned to this type of women: Karen. Ouch.

Recall the incident in Central Park with the woman, the cocker spaniel and the bird watcher. The same kind of behavior my customer exhibited got that woman the temporary loss of her dog, the permanent loss of her job and likely her reputation. Obviously that doesn’t happen very often, but I think it’s illustrative. If you doubt me, just start to type into Google the words “woman in Central Park” and the search engine will finish the entry “with dog Amy Cooper”. Then you’ll be referred to other incidents in her life involving lawsuits, loans to married lovers – sheesh!

So If my Karen is anything like that Karen, her life is a mess anyway. So the lesson for me is: recall that Karma is a bitch, so she will get her comeuppance sooner or later. But wait a second. Is it possible I’ve acted like this in the past? Why, I believe I have, relative to some flooring at – yes, you guessed it: Home Depot. So maybe I need to learn from this experience, and think about it before I take my frustrations out on someone who’s trying to help me. ‘Nuff said.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Kirsten was in the hospital this past week having her gall bladder removed. Robin was in the hospital the latter part of the week having her heart looked at. Erik the Younger was at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. They determined he needs surgery on his leaky eye, an artifact of one-too-many blasts from Iraq. Talk about bad Karma, eh? The gals are now sprung and home resting, so at least for a bit, all is well. We shall see.