Have you ever encountered a scenario that someone reacted completely different than how you would expect?
In January, the guys and I took a short retreat into Bend to get away from the rigors or work and the frustration of the day to day. Calling roll would include me and the job coach, Joe, Alex, Robby, Daniel, Mike, and Mark. Excitement bubbling over, we pulled up to a house near Sisters that we would be staying in and settled in for what would be a ride. As the guys settled in and got used to the surroundings, Joe and I plotted the next day with as much certainty as we could. Nothing prepared us for what we actually ran in to.
Things started simple enough, we ate breakfast, boarded the van, and took the 20 minute drive to Bend where we planned to first explore Wall St. We found abundant parking... our Rock Star permit made this easier than the average person will experience, and set out on foot to see where the day would take us.
I've been to Bend numerous times, but I'm not usually hindered on where I will go so I usually end up in a pub, bellied up watching whatever sport happens to be on at the time. Without this luxury, I actually go to see the shops that line the main drag. There's a lot of them. Toy Stores, Candy Shops, even a hobby shop that I found interesting enough to forget that I was still watching several of the guys.
It was at this juncture in the day that we ran in to a bit of a snag. If you've ever needed to use a bathroom when in downtown Bend, I'm sorry, I feel your pain, and I can one up you any time you ever want to complain. Try finding a bathroom where you can leave four guys unsupervised while you help out in whatever way you can. This proved impossible. I unfortunately had to leave a pair of guys with Joe, a pair of guys in the hobby shop and take one on to a restroom at a tea shop.
It's polite to make sure the bathroom is for public use but I wasn't about to tell the guy behind the counter the kind of emergency he was dealing with if he didn't just let me have the key, so I managed to provide a restroom for a very relieved young man. Chaos ensue. I thought it would take a few minutes. A few minutes stretched in to fifteen, I was a little impatient and instead of knocking on the door, I rushed back toward where I left everyone. Joe was headed toward the shop as I passed and I gave him instructions and where to wait. I hurried to collect the last two guys and set back to the shop.
I have a hard time sitting and waiting so it must have been torture for the four other guys that I work with as we sat for the interim. By now it had been a solid 20 minutes and our 5Th guy was not to be seen. One by one, the rest of our troop expressed a desire to use the restroom and I found it easier to take the guys to another shop. We had to cross two streets, but we found a nice open place to sit and a restroom with easy access that I could see every guy go in and come back out. This is an important lesson to remember.
Having told Joe where we would be, I figured he would be along shortly. No such luck. I walked out to the corner where I could see Joe standing in front of the tea shop. He caught sight of me and with what I'm going to guess was a confused, slightly amused look, waved me over. I gathered our force and set off again for the shop. I arrived to find Joe and our last guy standing to the side of the building. As quick survey of the area showed littered glass, a broken glass door, and a fire extinguisher sitting on the ground.
Wheels turned, planets aligned, and pistons pumped. Realization dawned and I caught Joe's eye to a look that said it all. The expression could only be interpreted as "What in the World!" There was no explaining it. Our guy himself couldn't even tell you what went through his mind. He though one thing while reality was slightly different. Fire extinguish + bracket + (F=MA) - glass window = where I was standing at that moment. There was no reason to panic but I wasn't sure if I should. Everyone involved was fine. The window was not. We waited and did the only thing that we could, we laughed.
