How My Friend Dealt With A Tragedy
I was thinking today about all the tragedy I hear about and how people cope with devastating things that happen to them and it reminded me of someone I once worked with. Everyone deals with tragedy in different ways and when I worked as a bartender there was a lady that I worked with that found out she had breast cancer. She had to have a mastectomy and undergo radiation and chemotherapy. She was a funny person and would give anyone anything they admired, she was very giving and sweet.
She was a very hard worker and always stopped up after her shift and would have a few glasses of wine. She had lost her hair of course and wore a wig while she worked, but the first thing she would do after ordering her wine was to promptly remove the wig and lay it on the bar and let her scalp breath. She wasn’t shy nor was she vain, she would sit there with her husband and they were both bald.
She had straight hair before she lost it and when her hair grew back because of all the drugs in her system her hair was so thick and kinky she couldn’t do a thing with it. It eventually returned to it’s normal state and then there were no more problems of shocking people by tossing her wig around. She actually looked good bald because she had a well shaped head and her facial features were quite striking.
I personally viewed it as simply removing her cap, but it was very unnerving for other paying customers so after several complaints, I politely asked her to at least put the wig in her bag and that made everyone around her much more comfortable and everyone was happy. I thought she enjoyed the shock value and it was her way of dealing with what she went through.
However she went a little too far one evening when she removed the prosthetic and laid it on the bar. Now that truly is shocking and it didn’t bother her at all, but it sure bothered those around her. We all knew she had a mastectomy, but I guess no one really wants it thrown at them as she had literally done back in the kitchen to one of the cooks and to say he had been shocked was an understatement as he caught it in his hand. The look on his face was priceless.
I often thought that was her own brand of therapy. I don’t know how I would behave under the circumstances she had been through, but I’m pretty sure I would have kept all my feelings and parts bottled up and to myself. I haven’t heard from her in years, she left soon after those incidents occurred to go work for UPS and I’m sure she probably livens up that place too.
