Winning combination

1

It had been an incredibly long day at the office. The company had just announced it was going to make cuts and I was hired to deliver the news to 25 of its employees. This was not why I wanted to work in human resources but unfortunately doing the dirty work was in my contract.

I left the office and took a deep breath of the hot and humid maritime air. If I thought that was going help me relax and little, I was wrong. I began sweating profusely as I exited the comfortable, though tense, air-conditioned building. I walked over to my car where one of my tires had been slashed. I guess I should have expected it, the company wasn't that big, and my new convertible was probably a giant beacon for the newly laid off employees to take out their frustrations on. I quickly changed the tire like my father had shown me in his shop several years ago. He had expected that I would take over his business, but I wasn't interested in getting my hands dirty. I laughed. The irony of my current situation was not lost on me.

"Oh, Pops if you could only see how dirty my hands are today, literally, and figuratively" I thought to myself. I wiped my hands on a rag I had stashed with the spare tire going over Lady Macbeth's famous lines:

Out, damned spot! Out, I say!

Though I didn't fear about descending into madness like she had, those lines often crossed my mind when I had to play the devil's advocate, which recently was often. I finished the task at hand, put my tools away and got in my car. I automatically turned into the Tim Horton's on my way home to get a refreshing iced coffee like I did most summer evenings.

"Welcome to Tim Hortons' would you like to try our new Cold Brew coffee this evening Mr. Hansen?" the clerk asked as I was about to place my order. I chuckled, clearly, I was considered a regular now.

"Is it going to ease all of my problems away Kim?" I asked.

"It absolutely will" she replied, amusement danced in her voice. 

"Then I will take a medium please." She invited me to drive up to the window where I handed her a five-dollar bill. "Keep the change" I called out as she handed me my drink. 

I relaxed as I took my first drink of the Vanilla Cream Cold Brew. This was good. I turned the radio on to my favorite classic rock station, The Rolling Stones were singing about 'her being so cold' and it seem to fit the moment perfectly. 

I drove home feeling like a load had been lifted off my shoulders, whether from the cold brew or from the Rolling Stones I didn't know but it was clearly a winning combination.