The Rest of the Population

Alright, it's Day 11 and I have had to deal with the outside world twice. And, frankly, twice was enough.

Door-to-door in the 21st CenturyOn the day that I was doing two hour feedings and the doorbell rang every hour, I ran down to answer it once. It was one time too many; I have been stewing about it ever since.
There stood a salesperson with his navy Window Concepts polo shirt on. Because I was so sleep-deprived, I don't know that he introduced himself or what he was selling; I also don't know that he didn't. What I do know is:

• He didn't give me any eye contact during our conversation 
• I might have purchased a lifetime supply of anything he was selling, no matter if I needed it or not 
• I didn't even have my nursing bra attached at the straps; he certainly didn't notice 
• when I told him I just got out of the hospital, he didn't ask why or how I was doing; he just worked on completing his job 
• he asked me who the primary homeowner was; I gave him my name 
• he asked me who else lived here; I gave him Dan's name 
• he tried to set an appointment with me to come back even though I told him to call the day before to confirm since I had a newborn and had no idea what hour it was 
• when he gave me the confirmation sheet, it only had Dan's name on it. Not mine. 
• the company called me 15 minutes after the man went about his merry way (again, interrupting my nap time) 
• the company called me every single day over the course of the week--always asking for Mrs. Keller 
• I am not Mrs. anyone I was outraged. I live in a feminist household in the 21st century--and I am sometimes reminded that not everyone has made progress and some people don't know that there is progress to be made. It left me feeling like a.) whatever progress the Women's Movement had made was all for not. b.) whatever work I had done in the world to break down barriers was pointless and c.) apparently I didn't even matter enough to have my name listed on this salesman's contact sheet (who was I, Curly's wife??).

Needless to say, Mrs. Dan didn't do business with Window Concepts.

Target MarketThe other outing I had was to Target. I think I needed to wear a sign that read "I JUST BIRTHED A CHILD NINE DAYS AGO, GIVE ME A BREAK." Unfortunately for me, I didn't wear such a sign.
Unfortunately for the young man filling my prescription, he didn't know what was coming to him. When he couldn't look up my account and asked me if I knew where my prescription card was, he made a false move. I quickly reminded him of the sign I should have been sporting and asked him why he couldn't look it up. He/his company can target market the heck out of consumers, but he can't look up my account number? Ridiculous. He said, "Lady, look, if you don't know the number, I can't look it up." I am pretty sure my response was, "I don't care. Give me my prescription. I can't deal with this right now."
Unfortunately for the young woman at Guest Services who resisted refunding an item full price, she didn't know what was about to transpire either. After trying to reason with her logically, I just said, "This is asinine. I hope you realize how asinine this is. I need to leave now; I need to go feed my baby; this is the first time I have been out of my house. Just do whatever you need to do because I have to go." She did relinquish and I almost cried all the way home.

Lessons learned:

• the universe doesn't know/care about the birth of my child 
• I would rather deal with a two hour feeding schedule than the rest of the population 
• I love everything about Calvin and Dan 
• I need a sign to wear for my next outdoor adventure