Fickle is as Fickle Does

Today I had to go to the bank. We got a lovely message from Wells Fargo yesterday advising us that our checking account was overdrawn. And no, it wasn't a bank error. We were overdrawn due to a misjudgment on my part regarding when a payment was due. I was able to get one part of the problem corrected with one department over the phone, and they advised me to go to a branch office to get the other part of the problem resolved. On my lunch break, I spent 45 minutes driving around Eden Prairie looking for an alleged branch office on Prairie Center Drive. Then I thought, screw it, and pulled into a Jimmy John's parking lot to try to resolve it on the phone. To no avail. So after work, I tried again with the branch office, this time setting out with an actual known address in hand. I haven't been in an actual bank in years for anything other than turning coins into paper and let me tell you that going to a bank on a Friday night at the end of the work day is quite an event! It's amazing how many people would rather stand in line for a half an hour than spend 30 seconds at an ATM.

I arrived at the bank at about 4:30. A pleasant young man was directing the throngs of paycheck cashers and depositers to the appropriate lines and then he lead me back to his desk where we could "discuss my accounts." He was able to take care of about half my problem (really, more than he was obligated to), and then we sat and chatted until they locked the doors at 6. It was surreal. I was introduced to a stuffed iguana named CeeCee and a box elder bug named Alex. I was asked if I had any advice for his friend who is trying to win back a girl he's been lax with for the last 7 years. We talked about mortgages and investing and dreams and feeling chained to a chair in a cubicle like a prisoner. As they were locking up, he walked me to the door and said something to the effect of, "Well, you've turned an otherwise unbearable situation into a very pleasant one." Then he shook my hand and we parted ways. And for the record, in the course of conversation, it came up that he's not so much into girls, if you know what I mean, so no, he wasn't hitting on me. It was the most wonderful bank experience I have ever had.

In the midst of it all, while the banker was on the phone trying to help me with my problem, my cell phone rang. Normally, I do not answer my phone while sitting at the desk of someone who has the power to waive my 9 overdraft fees. But hey, he was on the phone, too! So I answered. And, oh happy day, it was the director of the play I auditioned for offering me a role as a friend of the character I had been longing to be cast as. "I'd be thrilled!" I said. I had spent the last 72 hours stewing in self-pity, telling myself all the true things I know about auditioning and not getting parts, trying to reconcile emotion with reality. As my favorite bible teacher/pastor guy of all time is fond of saying: "What you know trumps what you feel." Still, it's so hard getting those feelings to catch on. So after wailing all over facebook and being consoled by all my dear friends, I now have to recant my woes and say, "Hurray! I got a part after all." Thank you all my friends for being able to tolerate my absurd and irrational mood swings.