Today’s blog
Lynn Murphy Mark
Gruntled
This word means pleased, satisfied, and content. I never knew there was a word that was the opposite of disgruntled but I can say I have felt both ways in my lifetime. Sometimes my mood qualifies for the “dis” version. No matter what I do things don’t turn out the way I want them to. At work it happens when I try to contact an actual human being from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. There is a robot lady that answers calls and gets increasingly annoyed if I keep asking for a representative. In fact, she uses words like, “If you don’t stop asking for a representative I will end the call.” And she does just that. No notice, nothing, just a click and then that “take that!” phone noise. For an agency that deals with nothing but people I keep expecting a different result from them. Insanity.
On my way to work I am quite gruntled if I can get into the fast lane right away, then hit all the green lights downtown and get to the parking garage with minimal effort. That mood is shattered as soon as I get in the parking garage. The building’s owners have decreed some unknown benefit of having construction throughout the garage, limiting the spaces that sometimes don’t accommodate all the workers in the building. From the garage, it’s an elevator nightmare. One in the parking garage is being “rebuilt” so that people from three levels are crowded into the one that works. That one took over a year to repair. Then when we all get to the first floor of the building we play the elevator lottery hoping that more than one is working for 8 floors of offices. Nope. We’re down to one car. If I knew who to send it to, I would tell the owners that every business on those floors is paying employees to disgruntled-ly stand and wait for 5 or more minutes each time we need to go up or down.
I can report that I spend way more time being gruntled. The older I get, the more I prefer that state of mind. It’s not an effort to hide from reality, but it is a conscious choice to find a way to work with life as it presents itself. Last night Jan and I watched a couple of episodes of our Canadian soap opera, “Heartland”, now in its 17th season. It is a beautiful, wholesome show featuring gorgeous Canadian scenery, beautiful horses (the heart of the story), and pretty people everywhere. We chose that route, deciding not to listen to MSNBC go on and on about 45’s trial. Honestly, I am disgruntled when I think about how much attention newspeople give to 45. The Democratic leaning shows should be featuring all the good that the Biden/Harris administration has achieved. Instead we are exposed to 45’s crazy rhetoric mixed with his “poor me” statements. I did hear a bit of important news about 45, though. Since December of last year he has been selling little swatches from the suit and tie he wore when he got his mugshot done in Georgia. Someone actually cut the suit and tie into about 2,500 pieces for distribution and, of course, for a price. That one made me laugh out loud.
My favorite gruntled-making activity is spending time with people I love and cherish. Being with friends and family makes for a cozy and comfortable feeling, and the blessings of sharing serious stuff as well as laughing frequently. At work it happens when a sought after solution presents itself. Yesterday I was able to follow up on a request that I made to ICE, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A supervisor in the Saint Louis office helped me with an issue that will result in a very gruntled client. The beauty of it was that the woman did not have to extend herself to help me out – I called her as a last resort – but she went out of her way to resolve the problem.
All this to say that I much prefer being in a gruntled mood. It really does help my state of mind when one of life’s roadblocks pops up. Well, except for the elevator issues. Oh, and that damn garage.