Turning Garbage Into Gold

Last night as my mom gave me a hug and welcomed me back home, she immediately jumped into talking about a quick and "easy" errand she needed me to do for her in the morning. Of course I was skeptical. My mom's errands are never easy. And after I heard the premise of this one, I was positive that it wasn't going to be a walk in the park. In fact, it got more complicated as small details were added in as I questioned the task. The request rolled out something like this:

Mom: Katie, would you mind exchanging this garbage disposal for me tomorrow?
Me: Exchanging it? Exchanging it for what?
Mom: Well there are two models that I'm interested in. [At this point, she hands me two different garbage disposal spec sheets]
Me: Which one am I supposed to get?
Mom: I'd really like this one [now marking a number 1 on the top spec sheet], but if they don't have that one I want this one [marking it with a big number 2]
Me: OK, so is there a price difference or is this going to be an even exchange?
Mom: There is probably going to be a price difference.
Me: So do you want me to just pay the difference or do you need to know the cost?
Mom: I want to know the cost. Just call me at work when you get there.
Me: But you can't take calls at work.
Mom: I'll answer my phone.
Me: OK.
Mom: Make sure you ask for Abdesh or Caroline when you get there.
Me: What if they're not there?
Mom: They should be there.
Me: OK.

So as you can see, this was no longer just an easy exchange. I now had to search down people, confirm costs, and navigate my way among different models of garbage disposals. Of course, as anticipated, when I arrived at the kitchen store this afternoon to endure the pain that comes with any "easy" errand, I encountered several barriers. The first being that Abdesh was nowhere to be found. My mom wasn't answering her cell phone. And then Caroline sent me to some back room to deal with a woman who had no idea what I was talking about. After feeling like the gig was up, I made my way toward the door and low an behold, Abdesh appeared! He flashed me a smile and led me to his desk. We talked about garbage disposals, but that only got us so far, so I changed the subject to running. I noticed that he had a Marine Corps Marathon certificate on his wall and I was looking for some helpful hints. Apparently I came to the right place because Abdesh is a firm believer in the transformational power of running. We had a good 20 minute conversation about that before even sorting out the garbage disposal debacle.

Tomorrow I'm making another trip out to the kitchen store because Abdesh is lending me a movie about marathon running. I should thank my mother more often for sending me out on her wild goose chases. Sometimes you find the things you're looking for in the most unlikely places.