Don't Judge a Book by It's Cover

One if my latest excursions with the Blue Hairs was a trip downtown to see the symphony. We had a good crowd to go that day and who better to help the Blue Hairs experience classical music than a die hard, true and true, through and through, Bon a fide southern girl who adores country music?!  Yes, exactly my sentiments too!  So off we go!  We'd gonna get edumacated on some music appreciation. 

A perk of the trip to the symphony was the fact that they were serving pastries and coffee in the lobby of the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. I unloaded the seniors, drove across the river to park the bus the. Rode a park and ride back to the Schermerhorn. If you are shocked I didn't get lost during my parking event, I am too!!  I didn't get lost at all!  I told the seniors if I didn't show up in a half hour or so they would know I had been devoured by pirhanna in the Cumberland River trying to find my way back to the Symphony from the parking lot. 

Back to the pastries, I got in line for one when I finally made it back. A volunteer was serving and I asked what a certain scone was. She answered with a technical explanation of a scone's country of origin. Wanting to try one I said, "Ok, I would like a blueberry one". She said, "Oh, well let me find a small one."  She was searching the apple cinnamon ones for a small one because the blueberry was apparently the last one. I said, "I want the blueberry."  She said, "Oh. Well. Umm. Well I guess you can have that one."  And she reluctantly gave me the blueberry one. 

Now let me back up and give a few facts. 

First, everyone else had already been served because they were all socializing in the lobby with their plates. Secondly, I had a conversation with my husband while getting ready to go to work that morning about whether I should wear my uniform or some "symphony clothes". We agreed I should wear my uniform which looks like this:

Now granted, I looked like this among high faluting symphony goers, but still I felt like I was treated like a second class citizen about the scones. I am convinced I would not have been treated that way had I worn my symphony clothes. My boss confirmed that I had on the correct clothes for the event by wearing my uniform. The incident really made me think about who I may inadvertently discriminate against because I make a judgement based on clothing or a job title like "Bus Driver". That scone server had no idea that I was college educated. She judged me based on my name tag. Jennfer Anglin-Bus Driver.  It bothered me. 

Moving on, we got seated and saw an excellent performance of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. The music was excellent, the edumacation was fantastic, and the music was appreciated. During some of the slower, more soulful portions of the performance, the comfy chair and warm hall was conducive to naps but I did stay awake successfully.

We also had a debate about what the name of the symphony center really is. I called it the Skimmerhorn. One lady said it is the Sher-mer-horn, and another said sker-mer-horn. The only thing we were sure of was the "horn" part. The worker lady confirmed it was indeed the Sher-mer-horn. I think I will amicably refer to it as "The Horn". 

 We loaded back up and arrived back to the assisted living facility for lunch. A good time was had by all and the lesson to be learned from a scone that day was "Never Judge a Book by It's Cover". 

Have a great evening and don't judge based on appearance-the dirty little secret is that the bus driver is college educated :)  Don't forget to invite me to speak at your next event!  

Jennifer