In my job I get to meet all sorts of characters. I also get to meet their pets or maybe I should say pests! Today, as often, I met a widowed lady and her little Scottie dog. She had two cats too but I didn’t get to see them, they stayed out-of-the-way. Seemingly the dog gives them a hard time. The dog was almost well-behaved and a command from the lady gave the dog the right to do what it wanted. You get the picture. Anyhow the dog, as with most of the I meet, took a great interest in me, especially my legs and all I could feel was the cold nose on them. It is very distracting when you are trying to talk with a client when their dog is constantly licking your legs! Eventually the dog behaved and let me get on with what I was doing. The lady however did not. From the moment I entered the house I was bombarded with small talk. She didn’t let up for the two hours I was there. It is very distracting when you are playing around with electric cables, some of which were live! It didn’t seem to matter to her so she didn’t stop. Now I know some people get lonely and I suppose they are not aware that they are being too talkative or distracting. Of course I have to be polite and ride it out but it is a great relief to get away from people like that. Phrases like, ‘She can talk a glass eye to sleep’ and ‘She can talk the hind leg off a donkey’ spring to mind. I did feel a bit sorry for her as she seems to have given up meeting people since her partner, as she called him because they weren’t married, was run over by a car and killed two years ago outside their home. I get this fairly often and it is very much a test of my patience. I don’t want to be talked to death when I am there to do a job but I have to live with it.
Shirley Anne
