Not Simpatico

My youngest daughter started a new job last week and somehow this got me thinking back to the days when I worked in a homeless hostel. Remembering how I used to feel about that position got me wondering if I was actually the right person for the job. It's true that a significant number of the client group were not at all simpatico. And they are the ones I remember the best.

And after giving some thought to such matters these past few days it was quite the coincidence that I bumped into one of my colleagues from that workplace. I saw her coming up the street and thought I recognised her. It's been years. She exclaimed,

Margaret!

And I answered,

Joan!

Neither of these names was correct but it had been a quite a while. And, for the purpose of this post, Joan will do.

We fell to reminiscence at once. Then went for coffee. The craic was, as they say, mighty. Joan told of her very first day on the job when I was the other person on duty. One of our more troubled and troublesome girls was threatening to jump off Harryville Bridge. She remembered me saying,

It would be great if she did.

She thought me very hard-hearted and pitied the wee attention-seeking girl very much.

I said to her,

But you came round to my way of thinking?

I don't know if Joan ever did. She's a far better woman than me.