Why Grin When You Can Laugh out Loud (standard:humor, 902 words)
Author: Godspenman	Added: Apr 19 2015	Views/Reads: 2081/1562	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
I refuse to go through life with a strained grin on my face. I choose to laugh out loud and invite the whole world to laugh with me.

I am of the opinion that standing in line is not a career although I
have been so employed most of my life. If it is a career, I am not 
applying for any employment. 

I have searched colleges and universities and have yet to find any of
them offering a PhD in Standing in Line. I believe there is no such 
thing, although I stood in line for so long now I probably have earned 
a PhD. 

This past week I had this brought to my attention in an interesting
manner. I had ordered a printing job at Staples and went in to pick it 
up. Walking in the door I noticed that at the printing department there 
was a long line of people waiting. My heart sank. 

Nothing seems to be more of a waste of time then standing in line
waiting for service or to pick up something. The woman behind the 
counter was doing the best she could, but the line did not seem to 
shrink very much. In fact, it seemed to grow. 

As I stood there, I noticed the people in line were getting a little
grouchy. You could tell by the grimace on their face that they were not 
in one of their “happy moods.” At the time, most of the people in line 
were women. Nobody was talking to anybody, just staring or should I say 
glaring at the woman behind the counter trying to move the customers 
through as fast as possible. 

It is always true that when you are in a hurry, things go rather slow. I
try to pretend I am not in a hurry and whistle, usually, “Rudolph the 
Red Nose Reindeer.” If it is this time of year people look at me as 
though I am crazy. Looks can be deceiving, but not in my case. 

If you pretend that you have all the time in the world, things seem to
go by quicker. It is like your computer. If you are in a hurry, the 
computer will run as slow as possible. On the other hand, if while you 
are waiting for the computer to get up and running you have many other 
things to do the computer is up and running before you know it. 

I was thinking all these things as I was standing in line because I was
not really walking in line. I thought of Johnny Cash's song, “I walk 
the line,” and was tempted to start singing it, but I did not think it 
would be appropriate. 

Then things began to take another turn. A woman came behind the counter,
saw me and asked very loudly, “Are you here to pick up?” 

There are times when something happens inside my head that makes me say
things that I have not really prepared. I do not know what it is, maybe 
it is my upbringing but I am still not all the way up. 

Without hardly a thought, I said in my outdoor voice, “No, I'm married,
but thanks for the offer. It's not often an old geezer like me get such 
an invitation.” 

Then the whole atmosphere changed. Most of the people in line broke out
in hilarious laughter. They never heard such a line in all their life. 
One woman looked at me and said, “Thanks, I needed that.” Another said, 
“You've made my day.” 

Everybody was laughing and talking and the time seemed to go by very
quickly and soon I was on my way out. 

My observation is that most people are too serious, but too serious
about the wrong things. Everybody seems to be uptight particularly when 
they are in the store standing in line. 

One rule I have in life and that is, I do not take myself very
seriously. After all, I do own a mirror! If what I see in the mirror is 
what other people see when they encounter me, I better start laughing 
now and join the crowd. 

There are things that we need to take seriously. Most people do not take
the serious things seriously, but they take instead, the hilarious 
things seriously. We live in an upside down world. 

A time comes when you have to really laugh out loud. I have noticed that


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