sailor.mnsun.com
St. Louis Park
Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019 • Page 5
America, your mother does not work here
Back in my working
days, I really enjoyed my
commitments as a full-
time editor and manager.
However, I also inherited
the role of part-time of-
fi ce mom. I will confess
that was not my favorite.
I hated being the nag-
ging voice about offi ce
etiquette, but sometimes
it had to be done.
I was indeed the voice
behind those “your moth-
er doesn’t work here”
notes that showed up in
the offi ce kitchen.
“If you make a mess,
clean it up!”
“If you use a plate, wash
it and put it back in the
cupboard.”
Or in the restrooms:
“Refi ll the toilet paper
when empty. PLEASE!!!!”
On occasion, my notes “Your mother does not
work here.”
It’s been a little more
PEGGY
than a year since I’ve writ-
BAKKEN
ten a terse note to my co-
workers, but I am starting
Guest
to feel compelled to start
Columnist
them up again, this time
Peggy Bakken is a former executive to a much larger group of
editor and a columnist for APG-East laggards.
Central Minnesota. Reactions wel-
Retirement
lifestyle
come: [email protected]. means lots of travel,
lunches at dives or high-
got a bit hostile. I remem- end destinations and road
ber once when someone trips. That means a lot
had reheated spaghetti of bathroom stops – fast
and sauce in the micro- food restaurants, roadside
wave. You know what spa- oases, freeway rest stops,
ghetti sauce does to the in- visitor centers, informa-
side of a microwave? One tion kiosks, museums, art
royal, red, splotchy mess! galleries and on and on.
After a stern warning
I am at a loss to under-
that I might just pack stand why anyone using
up the microwave if it a public restroom feels
happens again, the note the need to leave rolls of
would invariably end with toilet paper on the fl oor. Why does someone dump
a hand towel on the fl oor
instead of in the garbage
receptacle that is 12 inches
away? I just don’t get it.
At fi rst, I said I would
just ignore the messes I
encountered. Within a
few weeks of retirement, I
gave into my overly obses-
sive need to pick up after
others and started to clean
up restrooms.
Whenever possible, I
pick up the toilet paper
that is strewn on the fl oor
(clean and dry only!). I
pick up the paper towels
from the fl oor and put
them in the trash can –
and smoosh the trash
down, too, so there’s room
for more. I have wiped off
the sinks and even refi lled
the soap dispenser on a
couple of occasions. (And yes, I wash my hands thor-
oughly after my tasks are
complete.)
My totally unscientifi c
observations refl ect only
what I’ve found in the la-
dies’ rooms – maybe you
men are much neater and
this problem never oc-
curs. But ladies, I have to
conclude, some of you are
slobs.
My compulsion to
“clean up after you” has
extended to other venues.
For example, last fall I
was at one of our metro
department stores help-
ing my son pick out a suit
for a friend’s wedding.
Two clearance tables were
located next to the men’s
fi tting rooms, dumped to
overfl owing with charac-
ter T-shirts and other mis-
cellaneous items. Within the time it took my son
to try on a variety of op-
tions, I had both tables
neatened up, sorted by
Spiderman, Guardians
of the Galaxy and Trans-
formers, and then by size
and color.
My neatness obses-
sion on the road is a bit
of a mystery because I
am not that neat in gen-
eral (ask my husband). I
have magazines, sweaters
and cookbooks scattered
throughout the house on
any given day.
So, America, consider
this the big group email:
“Please be courteous to
others and pick up after
yourselves.”
The email concludes, as
you have guessed by now,
“Your mother doesn’t
work here.”
Anderson his voice not only prema-
turely, but permanently.
There are hundreds
of others like Prince
who have died of opioid
overdose yet their deaths
go unnoticed by most
of us because they are
rarely identifi ed public-
ly, but they matter. They, ine the opioid epidemic
in a three-part series that
will be shared in this pa-
per, across other APG
properties in Minnesota
and nationally. Our hope
is to shed more light on
the problem, highlight
the damage it is infl icting
and report on possible solutions that are being
pursued.
If you have something
to share, whether you
have been affected by it,
currently struggle with
opioid addiction or if
you are part of the so-
lution, we’d like to hear
your story. With more than 47,000
annual deaths nationally,
we can no longer ignore
that warning light. The
repercussions are not
coming, they have ar-
rived. Each day we con-
tinue to sidestep this is-
sue we lose another 130
lives.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4
a community, we mourn-
ed.
His death, ruled an ac-
cidental overdose of the
opioid fentanyl, silenced
SAILOR.MNSUN.COM
like Prince, contributed
something to this world.
They were somebody’s
child, brother, mother,
sister, father, co-worker
or grandparent. Their
deaths should not evapo-
rate into the haze of our
hectic world.
In April, we will exam-
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