September 18, 2023
Once upon a time I worked for a very large technology company. Lots of things happened while I was there, some worth talking about… and some not. Here is one of them.
The Cream Cheese Pumpkin Roll (Zechariah 4:6-10)
With well over a hundred people working for me, I couldn’t keep up with everyone’s personal situation, but I made an effort. The management style of my boss, in my opinion, a little too close, punitive, and suspicious, complicated my day-to-day management style – although if I had been in her place maybe I would have done the same. It is easy to be fooled from 300 miles away by a new subordinate you don’t know.
Balancing both the management of my people and solving customer problems took a great deal of effort, but I found it in many ways invigorating.
At a quarter past five one evening just before Christmas, I encountered a situation.
I was on a telephone call with an associate, trying to solve a thorny customer service issue. With an eye on the clock, I had a mandatory conference call with the boss and my peers at the bottom of the hour, and at that call, I was required to submit a daily report on certain sales activities. The Excel was open on my desktop, and I pecked at the keyboard as I talked.
Mary, one of the service reps, showed up at my office door, on her way out for the evening. The rest of the office was deserted. She was on the brink of tears.
“Hold on,” I murmured into the phone, hit the hold button, and propped the old-school handset on my shoulder. I tried a harried smile. “What is it, Mary?”
Through near tears, she used a small-girl voice. “Can you help me?”
“Sure, what’s up?” This was nothing but trouble. I knew from what her supervisor had told me that Mary was in a bad situation at home; we suspected she was being physically abused by her husband, but we were not able to intervene.
Her response was a stream-of-consciousness flood, fast, perplexing and heart-breaking: “Angela said she’d make me a cream cheese pumpkin roll and leave it for me in the freezer in the break room, and I already paid her for it, but the one I ordered was supposed to be with nuts, and there are three in the freezer, and two of them are with nuts, but the one with my name written on it is without nuts, and Angela’s already gone, and I’m off work tomorrow, and I don’t know which cream cheese roll I should take, and my husband’s family is coming for the holiday.” She took a breath and tried to control her tears. “And I don’t know which one I should take! What should I do?”
She looked at me expectantly; I flashed on Solomon holding the baby, confronted by two women, sword poised.
I glanced at the clock, the spreadsheet, and the phone. “Okay, let’s think about this, Mary. Hold on.” I released the hold button and muttered into the mouthpiece, “Look, I’ve got a situation here. Can you try to fix this and call me first thing in the morning?” I got an audible acknowledgment and hung up.
“Now, Mary,” I said, “you ordered the roll with nuts, right?”
Near tears: “That’s right, with nuts. But the one in the freezer with my name on it –“
“Is without nuts,” I cut her off. “Got it. And you already paid Angela, and they’re the same price, right?” I knew this because I had purchased one myself, with nuts, and at home, the boys had devoured it.
“Right,” she said. “But I don’t want to take one that was for somebody else –“
“I know,” I cut her off again. “But I think we can solve the problem.” I cast a glance at the clock: Only 5:22… lots of time yet. “Why don’t you take one of the unmarked rolls, with nuts,” I offered, “and before I leave tonight, I’ll put a note on Angela’s desk explaining it. She’ll be in tomorrow, and I can explain it to her then.”
Relief played at her damp eyes, and she strained for the lifeline. “Would you do that?”
“Of course, Mary,” I said, as kindly as I could. “Don’t worry about it. Take the one with nuts and enjoy your day off.”
“Oh, thank you,” she gushed, the tears coming freely. She turned and hurried for the break room. I watched her hustle away, dabbing her eyes with a tissue.
Now 5:24. A daily sales report is not all that hard. I turned to the keyboard as I punched in the conference bridge number on the phone. I scribbled a note for Angela an hour later before I left: “Big emergency about nuts. Talk to me,” and put it on her desk.
Theological Contemplations
It was small in my eyes – and no doubt in Angela’s, and in those of the unknown pumpkin roll customer who would not get nuts that year (Quit whining, kids, it won’t kill you!) – but it loomed large in Mary’s. And to be fair, an allergy to nuts is no small thing, but in this case, that did not seem to be an issue.
The prophet Zechariah declared that the Temple would be rebuilt after 70 years of despoil and abandonment. The Word of the Lord came to him and in this Old Testament book, he spelled it out. I do not pretend to even remotely grasp the significance of the “man on the red horse,” nor how the remuda of “red, brown and white horses,” was “to go throughout the earth” (1:9-10).
But his interchange with the angel in 4:6-10 gives me great pause. Zechariah is perplexed by the vision he sees (I can easily relate), and the heavenly messenger commands him to accept and try to internalize the significance of the details of the bewildering scene. Who dares despise the day of small things, since the seven eyes of the Lord… range throughout the earth…? is the challenge thrown own out by the angel.
The day of small things… what is smaller than a pumpkin cheese cream roll without nuts? But the eyes of the Lord are upon us, and what is small to me may be enormous to another.
The gripping phrase is in 4:6. Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty. It might be best to listen to the Spirit and not overlook the small things He has given us eyes to see.
And that is about as briefly said as I can say it.
For those of you who are new subscribers, thanks for joining! When you upgrade to a paid annual subscription ($50, about the price of a Starbucks coffee per month), you will receive an email with an offer for your free merch: The paperback Alligator Wrestling in the Cancer Ward, or the Pants-on ceramic coffee mug, or the Alligator Spirit wine tumbler. Any of them can be sent to you or to the recipient of your choice, as our thanks to you for upgrading. Use the Subscribe or Upgrade button in the email!
Look for those little things this week, and when you trip over one, take time to examine it.
Have a good week!
Curt
Share this post