elect.

today, I worked the election. it was a pretty long day, but a good one. and I've even got a couple of highlights that I thought just might be worth sharing.

it was "just" a civic election. no biggie. BUT they have these crazy new big machines that you feed the ballots into and it reads your ballot and swallows it and then... at the end of the night, it spits out a sort of tally sheet. and BOOM, just like that, we know who got voted for and how many times..... well, at our own station anyway. the machine is pretty sweet. but it has an uncanny resemblance to our city's new garbage cans. hm.

so I apparently developed habit, as the day wore on.... it went like this: I would put people's ballots in the bin and then wait for it to "go through" the system... and then I would say, "alright! you're good to go!" or "perfect! all set" or something chipper and final to let them know that they could now carry on their merry way. only, as the day wore on even more.... I grew mildly tired... or foggy-brained.... or ..something. and this one gent comes up and we chat and I go through the whole simple and short process with him, and instead of saying one of the options mentioned above, my mouth decides to say, "okay! you're perfect!"

sigh.

it did happen more than once, BUT most people were gracious enough to pretend that it hadn't. not this fellow. as soon as the words departed from my lips, I knew. he chuckled and said, "well, I'm a lot of things. but perfect isn't one of them."

*smile* "a.. haha... aha." sigh.

ok. new story. this very old.er man comes up and has one of those things that makes your voice sound sort of like a robot. and he was so smiley. I liked him. then... he made me like him even more. I pop his ballot into the box (which I only just now realized that I did not even name through the entire course of the day. oh, that is sad. how fun would it be to insert Ballot Box's name into my story right here?!) and it all works just slick as can be. then he says to me, "did you hear the story about the two peanuts?" I like these sort of jokes. the ones that make your sense of humor groan. so I smile and say, "why no. I haven't. what about the two peanuts?" He says, "they were walking down the road... and one of them got assaulted." (get it? a-salt-ed) and my response is something like... "oooh! ba-doom-chhhh" then, right after I appreciate his joke, he burns me! ya! I know right?! I'm a super great sport and so he says.... "well, for a blonde your pretty.... " and snaps his fingers! like he's surprised at my quick understanding of his joke.

honestly.