I had a funny one when doing a Red Cross presentation at a senior center. They always keep the pinochle game going while their speakers talk, and I had been warned about this, but there was this one really rude lady who just hung her head and looked pissed off the whole time I talked. After, I sat with her to have the free lunch (mmm!! uck!) and to see what had been going on.

It was just that she had personally lived all of the stories I, as a brand-new Red crosser was talking about, and had been there in some of Red Cross' toughest situations as a nurse (cross-threading here). And hearing me talk and be so new to it, like another generation carrying on her mission, had brought up some deep memories... she was lost in remembering, and that mad face was just her normal vacant-stare set of expressions. She gave me a real wake-up call, I'll tell you!

Not like your experience.... and I also forgot to mention that at clubs who treated my friends like that, I would go around and ask people kindly to shut the F up so I could hear!

Well, what can you do when Cleigh isn't there to serve as crowd control?

~S~