I'm too scared--I'll have the five-year-old do it!

[Tabris]

We made up little gift baggies for individuals we want to give a little Christmas gift to. You know, the guys at the copy shop, the religious ed teachers, the guy who delivers the paper, the UPS guy...

It's not much. Some Andes candies, candy canes, and hot chocolate packets.

Well, today I heard the familiar squeal of brakes and sure enough, the UPS guy is out there. I grabbed a gift bag...and then I totally chickened out. I can't do this. He's going to think it's stupid. He'll laugh in my face. I'll have to move to Madagascar where they don't do UPS delivery because they'll put my picture up on every UPS bullletin board in the nation! "WARNING: THIS WOMAN IS AN IDIOT! TREAT HER WITH GENTLE TOLERANCE!"

Right. So I did what any brave-hearted human being would do, and I summoned my five-year-old daughter. "Hey, LittleTabris2? You want to give a gift to the UPS guy?"

Sure enough, she was thrilled. She very cutely said, "Merry Christmas!" and handed him the gift bag, and he was a bit flustered and thanked us, and I didn't say what I should have ("I appreciate how you don't mind when my friends mail me a five-ton gift") and everything is fine.

Because while a 34 year old woman giving the UPS guy a candy-cane would be lame, a five-year-old doing it is *delightful,* particularly given how cute she is and how enthusiastic.

[blue2000]

Very cute!
And I bet the UPS guy loved it!

[Clara Bow]

You probably made that guy's day...can you imagine being the UPS man at Christmas?? Talk about a hell gig!

[miredrose326]

My kids love doing all the weird things that I hate doing.  My kids are at the age now where they will do almost anything I ask because they think it is because they are getting more responsibility. That's why I keep them around 

I bet the UPS guy was thrilled to be recognized.  If mine every actually waited there until I opened the door he might get something.  Sometimes he knocks and by the time I make it across the room his truck is driving away.  More often I open the door to go somewhere later and trip over my package. 

[Tabris]

We're close to the street, so I can actually hear the truck when it stops. It's kind of funny about our UPS guy, because the first UPS guy we had (at our apartment) was terrific. Then we moved, and I actually said to my husband I was sad about leaving him behind. About six months later, I caught our new UPS guy at the door, and **it was the same guy!**  And what was funny was he looked startled and said, "Oh, here you are!"  Like it had been this great puzzling mystery to him for six months what had happened to us. 

Last year it occured to me that he has lifted at least six million pounds on our behalf, but this is the first year we gave him anything.

Speaking of weird things we hate doing...  When we had contractors working on our house, there was one day it was about 159 degrees outside, and these poor guys were up on the hot roof, etc. So when they took a break for lunch, I decided to bring them out those little freezer pops in bright colors that my kids love. And then I thought, same thing--I'm going to look like a total idiot and they'll laugh in my face. These are guys who could each bench-press a Buick with one hand while eating their lunch, right?  And I'm going to go outside and give them a freezer pop. Right.

So I put them all in a paper bag and walked my daughter downstairs (she was 2 at the time) and said, "LittleTabris2 wanted to give you something," and she handed out one freezer pop to each of the guys, and they all thanked her for it and told her how much they enjoyed it and how nice it was to have something cold on a hot day.

The next day, I asked offhand if they wanted them again, and the lead guy said, "No thanks." I guess I'm just not cute enough to pull it off! 

[Reika]

That's just too cute, Tabris.

Sort of reminds me of one customer I had call up when I worked for a bottled water company that delivered to individuals and businesses. Not surprisingly summer is the busiest time of the year and at the beginning of summer this year I had one older gentleman call up to add a couple of cases of individual bottles of water to his order so that he could give them to the construction workers at the end of his street. That was the only call I had where someone was being that nice to someone that wasn't a friend or relative or even working on something directly for him.

[andi]

that was soo cute!!  i love it!

[BurninDinner]

This is why I want kids.  My mom had 5 so she could blame all sorts of stuff on us.  She has NEVER been on time, and she said her friends were just all impressed she could get us all dressed at the same place and time, so they didn't care if she was on time or not.  Now that we're growing up, it's apparent SHE'S the problem...

[fklwmn]

My kids love doing all the weird things that I hate doing.  My kids are at the age now where they will do almost anything I ask because they think it is because they are getting more responsibility. That's why I keep them around 

I bet the UPS guy was thrilled to be recognized.  If mine every actually waited there until I opened the door he might get something.  Sometimes he knocks and by the time I make it across the room his truck is driving away.  More often I open the door to go somewhere later and trip over my package. 

Oh, please tell me what age that is?!?!?! I don't think my kids have gotten there yet