Morning People

At 4:30 a.m. every morning, the alarm clock in my bedroom goes off and most of the time I don't even know it. This is primarily because A) I am under the effects of Tylenol PM or Nyquil, B) There is no significant reason for me to get up at that ungodly hour, and C) It is Big Dave's alarm clock...and sometimes he gets up before it goes off and turns it off so I never hear it.

Yes, my name is Karen and I live with a morning person.

I am so NOT a morning person.

And sometimes, I actually DO hear the alarm and I whine and poke until he either shuts it off or gets up. Naturally, I can lapse right back into wherever I was before I was so rudely interrupted until my clock goes off an hour later.

Morning people get up and greet the day with a smile! They love the early hours where they can putter around, have their quiet time, and not have to deal with ringing phones, technology, or grumpy people.

I am Senora Grumpypants in the morning.

Big Dave can get up and read tons of articles on The Drudge Report, put the dogs out, make my pot of coffee, brush his teeth, and get a shower before the sun even thinks about rising. I can only do this if I am on my way to somewhere fabulous. And I mean REALLY fabulous. Like get on an airplane and get out of town fabulous.

Granted, these morning people fade relatively early in the evening, and more often than not, Big Dave is sawing logs on the couch watching something heinous on television. I, on the other hand, have to force myself to go to bed before midnight.

A friend of mine mentioned that she received especially good service this morning when she wasn't entirely expecting it. I think that the economy has given every business giving "iffy" service a giant wedgie to make them rethink that position. These days...if you don't cater to your customer...that customer is a whole lot less tolerant than s/he used to be. I mean...we are sitting on our expendable dollars and some businesses have found out that YES, you actually have to offer quality service to keep the reason for being in business - the customer - happy.

I'm glad that she had that experience...but I also equally suspect that she ran into a giant nest of morning people. Morning people jacked up on coffee are so incredibly perky that you almost expect them to break into song or something.

I have pretty much the opposite problem at the banks I've worked in through the years. There have always been people there that you just don't talk to until noon. I mean you CAN talk to them, but you'll walk away told off, offended, or with a mile wide attitude problem. I used to enjoy playing with one of the NON-morning people I used to work with...including having conversations with her where I answered for her. I think that she thought I was off my tree...but I just enjoyed messing with her.

I suppose that each of us has a personal rhythm that works for us...and a time of day that we feel most energized. I just know that my happy time is not at 4:30 a.m. I always heard that "nothing good happens after midnight"...well, I feel pretty much like "nothing good happens before 6 a.m." either.

But maybe that's just me. Nah.