Everything, Nothing, and I'm a Middle Child

"Is service offered in the spirit of secrecy, secret service?"*

One of my friends, who comes here on occasion to translate French when he's not busying being a doctor, came up with that one.

Well, anyway, I've gotten a bit of a reputation here it seems.

We have a grocery store here on the 'campus' of the Baha'i World Centre. It's not huge, but it is largely adequate. While my parents were here, my father served as a consultant for them for a few days since he has a number of years of experience in the food industry (working for the largest food corp. in the States actually). Anyway, so the manager knows my dad and he knows me.

Well, the entire Baha'i World Centre is run on donations from the Baha'i World, so we tend to be fairly money-conscious. These are individuals' sacrifices we're talking about. So, when I notice they've charged me incorrectly on my receipt, I notify them - whether it's 'in my favor' or not. I also notify them when I notice moldy cheese, an incorrectly translated label (from Hebrew), etc.

The other day the manager caught me closely inspecting a bottle of water. As I'd picked it up to purchase it, I noticed it was wet. So I was checking to see whether it came from the inside or something external. As he watched me, he said "I swear Mara, you must have picked this up from your Dad. You should be a secret shopper!"

Hmmm... future employment opportunity? I do love grocery shopping!

Heheheheh...

*A play on "Work done in the spirit of service is the highest form of worship" ('Abdu'l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 83).