A life lesson in how to always say YES, regardless if it is “your job”
A life lesson in how to always say YES, regardless if it is “your job” or not and what friends are made of.
It was your usual beautiful Charleston morning and I was starting my daily routine of getting up, feeding the dogs and getting that first hot cup of coffee to start my morning before sitting down to watch the news. This was how I started every day, little did I know that today was no ordinary day. Today was the day I would walk out of my bedroom and be greeted by a snake in my living room. Apparently he too was just as surprised as I was when my 2 German Shepherds and I crossed his path. Curled up in front of the bookcase as if he had been invited for a hot cup of Joe, I didn’t even notice him till the dogs stopped to see what was on the floor and I saw strange striking movement from around their feet.
Please keep in mind that I have only been awake for 60 seconds, so my reflexes are not quite cat like yet and my 10 year old prescription eye glasses aren’t up to sniper regulations. Even though I am a good ole southern girl, I still haven’t ever had to even give one moment of thought about what to do if you find yourself face to face with a poisonous snake IN YOUR HOUSE at 5:30 in the morning. I feel I was pretty impressive with my banshee like screams to get the dogs away in an effort to see what was on the floor and to be able to make an assessment what was going on. I flipped on the lights and see this snake looking back at me. Great. Now what? They never covered this while I was in college. The class on snake removal must have been an elective I missed.
Now that I am very awake, I remember the large mixing bowl sitting in the drying rack that I used to mix the salad in the night before. I grabbed it. Thinking every good Knight or even a damsel in distress needs a good long jousting lance, mine is now the broom that I grabbed next. This creature will not get away from me so easily. I place the bowl at the end of the broom and try to cover the snake while extending as far as I dare without losing balance and sending the snake scattering for cover. Luckily I was able to capture the uninvited guest.
With the weight of 15 large hardback books on top of the bowl, I am able to take a breath and say, once again, now what? This is where you call upon your friends. Who better to prove themselves as a true friend than one that will pick up the phone on a Tuesday morning before 6 AM? I called a family friend who owned his own business, granted it was a Termite exterminating business, but I was in dire need of an “exterminator” and thought this would be the answer to my dilemma. He had never been asked to remove a snake in all of his years of operating his business, but thankfully NO was not in his vocabulary.
Shortly after 8:30 AM, I was answering the door to find 2 nice gentlemen dressed in their Termite Exterminator shirts coming into my house to help me with a snake removal. They never hesitated to take on the challenge and together we all managed to get the snake outside and into a large bucket safely (thanks Home Depot for the great bucket). The gentlemen rode off with the snake into the sunrise while I waved goodbye and gave thanks for friends who answer the phone and for the average guy who will go out of their way to help even though it wasn’t their job.
Thank you,
Kimberly D. Marchand, LCB
Branch Manager
Logistics Plus Charleston
1605 Central Ave.
Suite 6, # 247
Summerville, SC 29483 USA
Office: 814.746.4675
Mobile: 843.568.3381
Fax: 814.217.0500
