I'm A Heck Of A Nice Person.

Not only am I nice, but I think that most people are.  Yup.  There's a whole bunch of nice folks wandering around out there in the world.  But, not everyone is nice.  Consider this:

I finished up another fun-filled day of educating the masses in a much less tired state than I've been exhibiting most of this week.  I even stopped by the local department store on the way home to pick up a few odds 'n ends.  And underpants.  I was doing well with that for a while, there.  I hadn't given in to my unquenchable desire to purchase underpants for months, now.  But, then the whole thing came up again on the blog and I got to thinking about underpants and how my new stuffing-enhanced girth might benefit from some fresh elastic waistbands. Besides,  giving in to the Underpants Urges makes me awfully happy...

Whistling a happy little underpants themed tune of my own making, I let myself back into my home and was greeted by my answering machine displaying 5 new messages.  This is unusual.  Normally, this means that it is the day before an election or I have neglected to pay someone some significant amount of money and they are resorting to mildly threatening phone calls in order that I might begin to see the importance of sending them my dollars.  But, I was all happy from the new underpants at that point, so I figured I'd play the messages anyway.  It's not anyone's fault that we live in a democracy or that I sometimes forget to put the checks in with the bills, after all.  

This round of messages was different, though.  It seems that there is a little girl in my town who really, really needs to talk to her friend.  I mean she really, really, really needs to talk to her.  Badly.  Tonight's activities depend upon it.  Lives may be at stake.  So intent was she in her quest to make sure that her friend understood the importance of this conversation, that she spent a great deal of time on these messages.  I now know the following:

1.  Her name

2.  Her friend's name

3.  Where they are going tonight and in what area of the building they will be meeting

4.  What time they will be there

5.  The color and make of the car that will be dropping her off for this meeting

6.  Her phone number

7.  Her address

8.  Directions to her house

9.  She is concerned about her friend's lack of response and would really like to know what is going on..she's maybe even a little distracted by this turn of events.

10.  And, from her voice, I can assume that she is between the ages of ten and twelve

Let's take a minute and think about what one of those not-so-nice people might do with this information.  Are you getting a picture yet?  Are you envisioning the potential for disaster?  Are you maybe starting to wonder just how much information kids give out over the phone without realizing it?  

After several power outages and having to re-record my outgoing message about a billion times, I finally just decided to leave it on the default setting.  Hence, the voice that callers hear is a computerized male.  There is no identifying information about the residence given.  This youngster had no way of knowing that she was dialing the wrong number.  She trusted that this was her friend's house.  Kids are like that.  They "assume."  

Fortunately, I was home for her last attempt at reaching her friend and was able to let her know that she was not calling the right number.  Hopefully, she reached her friend and they were able to confirm their plans for a fun-filled evening.  I know from her calls that she was willing to move heaven and earth to make this an easy process.  There were any number of options given for making the meet-up happen.

I, like most people, am a very nice person.  I do not have any interest in the social schedules of young children.  Nor do I care where they live and how long it will be before they are outside the protection of parental supervision.  I just want to sit around in my jammies tonight and work on my Sort Of Purple Sock That Might Match Something I Own.  I'm a simple girl in addition to being pretty nice.

But not everyone is.  And I'm wondering if that voice in the background on those messages was her mom.  And if she really understands how lucky she is that I am so nice.

SA