Tale #1: What on Earth is this puddle?

The job of producer always intrigued me. It had all the elements that fit my OCD skill set. The job included making spreadsheets, filling out the licensing agreements, organizing the show budget, keeping the staff on task, and printing beautifully designed name tags.

My first run at producing was for our 2018 K-1 production of A Race To The Finish. While producing for the Kindergarten – First Grade show certainly did include all of the tasks mentioned above, there were some extra special tasks I learned were apparently reserved just for the producer of that show. Enter the incident.

The K-1 grade group rehearsed for an hour each Sunday afternoon alongside the 2-4 grade group. Once I got all of the kids checked in and sent to their starting rooms, the creative staff took over and I got to go back to the office to prep for my own rehearsals later in the day.

One particularly hectic Sunday, I was printing choreography plots for my own show when one of our teen helpers came and found me in the office. The way she hesitantly stood in the doorway reminded me immediately of the way teens linger when they need to tell their parents bad news.

I said, “what’s up?” as I continued to work on my printing project. She didn’t say anything until I swiveled in my office chair to face her directly. She made an “Icky face” and proceeded to tell me that a kid had peed on the floor. From her lack of follow up combined with the fact that no other adult staff members or production volunteers seemed to be handling it, I knew that it got to be an extra special job for me that day.

I logged off of the laptop and headed to the supply closet for paper towels and cleaning spray. The teen helper had to go back into the music room, but I assumed a freaking puddle of pee on the stage would be pretty easy to spot. (Luckily the child’s mom was there to help the actual child get cleaned up and changed).

I went into the theater and found the puddle. I got down on my hands and knees and started scrubbing away. I’m near finished when another teen helper came up and said, “what are you doing?” I looked back confused and said, “I am cleaning up the puddle of pee”. She looked away and looked back before informing me, “but the kid peed over there.” She pointed to another puddle further upstage.

I looked down, looked at the other puddle, looked back down, and then looked up to the 13-year-old volunteer and said, “then what on earth is this puddle?”

Now I truly believe that in life we lead by example. If we want the various leaders in our life to roll up their sleeves and do the hard work, then we must be held to those same standards when we find ourselves the leaders.  Ergo, you should never consider yourself too important to clean up a puddle of pee.