“Most of us, swimming against the tides of trouble the world knows nothing about, need only a bit of praise or encouragement -- and we will make the goal. ”
—Jerome P. Fleishman

So far this week I have been ripped for using the word heck...yelled at for the dirt being dry in the flower pots (don't you know flowers have to be watered to live?!?)...snapped at about the color of dinner plates (wtf??)...growled at because someone thought they should have been served before someone else...had a crooked, old finger waved in my face because I won't do anything about the mysterious person who supposedly eats ice-cream out of a resident's apartment while she is away...and I had to make 30 s'mores because no one wanted to roast their own marshmallows. Not only didn't they want to roast them, but they wanted to criticize how I was doing it. Oh, and I had already worked all day.

BUT.... just now, a 96-year-old resident came into my office to tell me he thought it was really nice of me to build a fire and roast marshmallows for everyone last night. He also said "I know it can't be easy trying to make all us old people happy all the time, but you always smile anyway."

Ah. A little bit of praise goes a long, long way. Not to mention it's also really good to know that they think I'm smiling when I'm gritting my teeth! ;-)