“Welcome! Please take a chair,” Evelyn gave her best customer service smile, placed the popcorn on the counter, and pulled 4 chairs into a semi-circle in the open area in front of her counter where she was planning this impromptu counseling session.
Richard sat down in one of the seats at the end of the semi-circle, and his wife sat on the other end. Her look of bitterness with the slow, uneasy way she sat down told Evelyn this was going to be a fun session.
Popcorn. She would need lots of popcorn for this one, and it was impolite to eat without feeding everyone in the room. “One moment please and I’ll be back with you.”
They shrugged, Richard nervously wringing his hands and the woman was tapping her foot. Evelyn ran up to her apartment to grab two bowls. She came back down to see the wife glaring at Richard while he attempted to look everywhere except at her.
“I have a snack called popcorn which is heated up corn kernels for everyone to enjoy,” she poured some of the popcorn into the bowls and handed a bowl to Richard and one to his wife.
“I didn’t come here to eat,” the woman snapped as she grabbed the bowl from Evelyn. “Heck I don’t even know why I agreed to come here today.”
Evelyn continued to give an easy going customer service smile while keeping herself from saying anything rude. She took her seat and thought about what approach to take. Probably best to gently inform this lady of how they had gotten to this point. “Richard came by yesterday for flowers to try and make you happier, but seemed unsure of what else he could do. We recommended that you come in, and we could listen to your story and try to help mediate.”
John walked back into the chop carrying an orange and red peony which he set down near the counter before making his way over to the chair next to Evelyn and grabbing some popcorn from her container.
The woman glanced between them and sat as stiff as a board on the chair. She looked like she tasted something sour. “You better not be planning on gossiping around town about our marital problems, of course, who knows who else that good for nothing husband of mine has told.”
“Do not worry madam, what is said in Evelyn’s shop stays here. If anyone walks in, which is unlikely in this downpour, we will just be having a cordial conversation,” Evelyn reassured the woman.
“I heard Lady Lafett visits frequently,” the woman responded as if it was a refute of what Evelyn said.
“She does indeed,” Evelyn calmly agreed. “But do you know what her business is with me?”
The woman shrugged. “Buying Flowers?”
Evelyn shrugged while continuing to hold her smile. “Do you feel more comfortable discussing the issues you are facing with us now?”
The woman looked around the circle and gingerly ate a piece of popcorn. Her face showed surprise at the flavor, and she ate another piece. “I guess I can see what you have to say. Can’t hurt at this point.”
Food was truly a miracle worker for tense emotions.
“I’d like to start by having everyone introduce themselves. Please say your name, occupation, and one thing you enjoy doing. I’ll start. I’m Evelyn, owner of this flower shop, and I enjoy seeing people happy when they are looking at flowers,” as she finished, Evelyn held her right hand out pointing toward the woman inviting her to go next.
The lady finished chewing her piece of popcorn. “I’m Sadie. I cook breakfast and lunch for the rest house and manage a home of 3 children all without my lazy bum of a husband lifting a finger. I don’t have time to enjoy doing anything. I guess you could say I used to enjoy cooking, but there’s no love left in me for that anymore.”
Evelyn felt herself feeling sorry for Sadie. She seemed like a difficult personality, but how much of that was caused by stress? Everyone seemed to be waiting for Evelyn, so she motioned for John to go next.
“John. Employee here. I like working with plants,” he said without any flare.
Evelyn motioned toward Richard.
“Richard. I work shifts on the town guard. I like, umm,” he looked over at his wife. He wrung his hands. “I guess I enjoy my target shooting with the bow every morning.”
Evelyn smiled as she forced down thoughts about his nervous clear change of answer. She was the neutral party here and could not judge either of these people if she was to successfully bail out their ship.
“Now, I want each of you to tell me one thing about your spouse that annoys you the absolute most without looking at your spouse,” Evelyn didn’t want them to try and soften the answers, and looking at each other probably would make at least Richard be less honest. “Let’s start with Richard.”
His eyes went wide. He clearly hadn’t been expecting this. He opened his mouth, and then closed it. She waited without a word. She’d read that the best way to get someone to tell you something was to let them sit in awkward silence.
“I hate it when she screams at me whenever I’m home,” he said and winced as if waiting for the screaming to begin.
She could hear Sadie sucking in her breath as if to yell at him. Right hand raised, Evelyn turned toward her. “Deep breaths. Eat some popcorn. Then the thing that annoys you the most. Don’t let it be a retort to him because you only get to say one thing.”
Sadie glared at her, but did as she was instructed and ate some popcorn in the silence. Her expression softened a little. She met Evelyn’s eyes with a tired look. “He’s never home. We have three kids and I only see him nowadays in the morning before he goes off to train and I go off to cook, and then he does who knows what all day. Yesterday was the first time he came home in the evening in ages. I was so shocked seeing him, and then seeing him attempt to clean, that when I finally got over my shock and asked him what had happened I just found myself agreeing to come here.”
Telling him to clean was successful. Seemed like Sadie remembered that more than the flowers. Everyone was looking at her. In another world, she’d heard when fixing behaviors you went one step at a time and the people involved had to come up with the solutions.
“I want you both to think about the complaint your spouse has voiced. Eat some popcorn. When you are ready, you will tell me one thing you know you can do to correct what annoys your spouse. I don’t want it to be a solution that is ‘I won’t’, but is a solution you will do. It can be something small, but it has to address their concern,” Evelyn mix matched a number of things she’d read and heard said around her. It seemed to fit what she was trying to do.
She munched on some popcorn, and John also grabbed some popcorn from her bucket. She wondered what solutions Sadie and Richard would come up with.
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