We dread the sound of the phone ringing on Wednesday mornings. It's the day the paper comes out and if the phone rings it can be someone with a complaint. Maybe there's been a typo or a mistake or maybe they just disagree with something we've written. Last week I even got a complaint about an article I hadn't written. The caller was annoyed that
a columnist had written about the underlying racism in much of Irish society. Huffing and puffing, the man said that when he had lived in England he had obeyed the laws there, the inference being that immigrants in Ireland don't.
'I'm not a racist,' he said 'but when I see them driving around with two or three cars and getting the dole....' I was too polite, I held my tongue. I should have told him to get lost, and he mistook my silence for agreement. 'I know you agree with me,' he said, so I pointedly told him he didn't know my thoughts at all, delivered the stock answer to all such calls. 'You can send a letter to the editor, if you want.'
So, it was a nice surprise to get a text message from a colleague today telling me that even though I'm on holidays this week, there was 'big bunch of flowers' waiting in the office for me. A teacher in one of the local schools had dropped
them in for me as a 'thank you' for writing an article about their annual music workshop.
It's nice to be appreciated although I certainly don't expect such gifts just for doing my job. And I've made a note to remember to say 'thank you' more often.
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