At the very beginning of this school year, I got myself into a regretful situation. It was a Wednesday _____ and I went to see a friend to watch the sunrise before school. It was about 4:30 am and we were _____ outside next to my car. To our _____, someone in a neighbouring house was in his _____ and showed his headlights on us, yelling at us to _____. As we got into my car, he had called the policeman. Since I had my _____ for only about six months and not a full year, I was fined for _____ a passenger.

This was the first time that I had ever got _____ For about two months, I was _____ and had no one to ______. I kept everything to myself because I was not ______ talking about everything that had ______. I didn’t even talk to my head teacher and lied to him by saying everything was ______ But my attendance (出席) and ______ became terrible. I was among the top 30% of my class ______ my rank had dropped by about 6 marks. I was under lots of stress and lacked ______ to do well in school. My biology teacher noticed I didn’t try my best and talked with me. She made me ______ the last two months was not me.

Now, my working habits have been much better and I know what I want to do with my ______. I plan to take courses in graphic design (平面设计) in university because I can express my thoughts in a (n) ______ way. I’ll work to my fullest potential (潜力). This is what I ______ and I know that now.

   When I was 17, I paid a long visit to Iowa to see a college I was thinking of attending. While the _______ was fun for the most part, I was feeling depressed and _______. I was realizing that I wouldn't be seeing my family _______ if I went to school here. I was also _______ the forests in Appalachian mountains of my home. I loved how the leaves turned a thousand _______ of green in spring and then became a sea of colors in autumn. I loved the _______ of the forget-me-nots and countless wild flowers that grew on the hillsides.

Here in Iowa everything was _______. The grass looked brown and _______. All that I could smell was a_______ of corn, mud, and pigs. One day I lay down on the ground. Eyes closed, I ________ being back home over and over again. When I ________ opened them, however, I saw something that ________ my soul: a prairie (草原) sunset. It seemed to fill the whole sky from the________. Gold, red, purple and pink clouds all flowed together and________ an amazing picture. It was so huge that I was________. In comparison with it, our mountain sunsets ________. I was filled with wonder and a sense of ________. I realized too that I had been picky and________. This place too had its own special ________

Over the years to come I learned something else. Each of us has a special beauty too —everyone has their own________talents and abilities to share.

   Yesterday I was a bit early for a date so I stopped in at McDonald’s for a coffee. I think they make the best coffee. Two very pleasant young girls were working at the counter and the customer ahead was hard to please!

The young girl was sweaty and near tears. I only wanted coffee but I liked lots of milk in it. I really didn’t want to be difficult so I said, “You go ahead and add lots of milk and if it’s not enough, I’ll ask for more.” She smiled. She made a perfect coffee. I left her two pink candies as a tip (小费).

I went to her supervisor and let the leader know how well she dealt with such a difficult customer ahead of me. More of that needs to be done for young people starting out — probably the first job.

I remember how hard it was. I would have run away crying and quit, if it had been me yesterday serving those customers. I’d still be crying too.

Comments posted by molliecat on July 29, 2018

READERS’ COMMENTS

FayBaby wrote: Customer service can be one of the most difficult and thankless jobs at times. Your expression of appreciation (感激) probably made her day.

Mish wrote: How dear you were to lend support there, dear molliecat. Love you!

Kiwicat wrote: My sons both have very unpleasant first job stories of how rude and demanding customers can be. I now always encourage a new cashier or someone to do job training. Thanks for the reminder (提醒物) that we can be more thankful to those who offer front-line customer service.

Mindyjourney wrote: Thank you for helping calm the young worker with your appreciation and thoughtfulness. So many good lessons you have earned are shared. Blessings, dear molliecat.

   When I read a post about taking someone to the movies, I remembered something that happened a couple of years ago.

I used to drink Coca-Cola and they had a contest where there was a ___________ inside the bottle cap. You went to a website and entered the code and maybe you _________ something. I won some ___________ Cokes. But then, I won the Grand Prize！I was surprised and ___________.

The Grand Prize was free movies for a year. What that ___________ to be was that the company sent me 52 admission tickets for a local movie theatre — they _________ one movie a week was what free movies for a year _______. All of the tickets had expiration dates（失效期）later than a year from the day I _________ them. I used quite a few taking friends to see _________.

But the best thing I did with them was that I ____________ twenty-two tickets that I had left by that time, to the local Women’s Transition House. It is a place where women and their ____________ could go when they’re ______________ domestic violence or just a bad situation in general and get help to make a ______________ start.

My work team had decided we would be a charity through which we ______________ donations for that particular Christmas. I knew that the Women’s Transition House ______________ some childcare for the women ______________ they could go for job interviews and things like that.

I put those tickets in a(n) ______________ and wrote a note on the outside, asking the Women's Transition House staff to give the movie tickets to women there ____________ the holidays to have something ____________ to do, with or without their children. It made me ____________ happy to do this.