For Some of Us It's Not a Good Time

Could I mention just one more time how incredible home made hot sauce is for soups and stews.  I don't reckon there is anything quite so fortifying as a cup and a half of my mom's hot sauce added to your pot.  But you could adjust the type of hot sauce to the meats and vegetables in your soups. A nice chile verde would be great with pork for example.  Some ingredients are magic in unexpected places.

I work with a girl that has Asperger Syndrome.  According to her that and a couple of other conditions.  The contractors call her awkward.  She's excellent at her job, very detailed.  I begrudgingly learn a lot from her.  She's very interesting to say the least but it's never how you might imagine.  You think you know conditions but it's always so much more complicated and deeper then anticipated.  Just like with dementia, Asperger's is multi faceted.  She curses a lot and sometimes speaks very loudly in front of customers going on about how she can't take it anymore.  She is socially awkward as the contractors observed but in a customer service situation she can sometimes surprise me.  First of all, I don't think she's ever messed up an order, and we have a pretty crazy intricate system.  Who can succeed in customer service without issue?  I think the answer might be only lucky schleps and people with Asperger's.  Recently she had a Russian family that came to the wrong location for a planning appointment.  Generally speaking Russian's are great people.  They may appear gruff and loud at first impression but they have no pretenses and get straight to the point.  When they come wanting to buy a kitchen that's exactly what they aim to do and although they may not understand all the procedures, they are serious buyers. She was adamant to proof that they were wrong when they insisted they made the appointment for our store and went to extreme measures to prove she was right.  While all this was going on I was dealing with a problem customer and our other coworker was also in a sale but we were paying close attention because it felt like any moment, one of us should chime in, take over.  This has happened about a hundred times by the way, angry people and a situation elevating quickly.  We all have our unique problem solving skills and flaws. Our coworker's voice was matching the high levels of the upset customers.  When all of the sudden out of the blue she says slowly and with intent,  'I want to start over.  Yes, you are at the wrong location but I will take you as a walk-in.  Can we start over?' And just like that everyone calmed their shit down.  It probably took them a bit of time to trust her but soon they realized she was great at what she did.  Problem solved.  Because she lacks some emotion, she is able to stabilize at the drop of a hat.  The rest of us morons have to go through hell to get right after being so upset.  Our hearts racing and egos shattered. Even the best of us might move forward, operating based on resentments and stubbornness.  But she is able to clean the slate and it's genius.  Coincidentally and again, generally speaking this is a trait that I have noticed that also exists in the good folks of Russia.