It’s such a small thing, doing one’s job.
I clean motel rooms. It’s not hard. Well it difficult but it is hard work. I clean and when I find things that people leave behind I put them in Lost and Found.
This particular day I had to do a little something different.
Rain was pouring down chilling the air. It felt lovely after working up a sweat cleaning. All the rooms open onto a railed porch. Room #3 checked out and left the key in the office. As I moved down the row of rooms I saw their car was still there although I had seen them leave. So I left their room until last.
Once I had cleaned everything and stripped the beds to change the sheets I found a pair of red fuzzy socks under the edge of the bed. Normally I would stick them in the office but the car belonging to the people was still sitting there outside the room. After a moment of indecision it pulled out a clean trash bag and put the socks in it. I set them on the chair outside the room. I figured if they came back before I was done I would make sure they got them back and if they hadn’t gotten back yet them I would stick the bag on their windshield. This way the bag would keep them dry in the rain and they wouldn’t miss seeing them.
As it happened they came back just after I had locked the door. I caught their attention and gave the elderly lady her socks. She was ecstatic. She started going on about how she had been looking for them and her feet were freezing. She kept thanking me and and saying how sweet I was for returning them. She hugged me and thanked me again and again.
It’s funny how such a small act like doing my job could affect someone’s life so profoundly even if it’s only for a moment.
adriana pridemore 