The Adhesive Label

I wasted a half hour today.
I cleaned all the bathrooms this morning.
Three bathrooms and two powder rooms were all finished before I went out to run errands.
I decided it was time to replace the brushes that are in their own little holder in the corner.

I replace them from time to time because of the job they are expected to do.
I did not need to replace the base.
I just needed to replace the brushes.
I went to the store with the bulls eye, the store where you can get anything and everything.

I wondered what my shopping cart must have looked like with five toilet bowl brushes inside.
Of course there were some other things, but I still had five brushes in my cart.
No explanation was needed.
We all have to clean bathrooms and these brushes do the job nicely.

When I got home I pulled a brush from the bag.
It had an adhesive label around the handle.
The label had the UPC bar-code and the name of the company that makes the brush.
I thought this was going to be an easy task.

I pulled the adhesive label expecting it to tear easily.
It tore; however, it tore in a jagged line.
In fact, it was glued on the brush handle so tightly that it would not come off at all.
I found myself getting annoyed.

Everyone has their pet peeves.
I have a few.
One thing that irritates me is when you try to take off an adhesive label that resists.
Either the label should stay there or it should come off; half on and half off is unacceptable.

Some may say that is a bit compulsive.
Perhaps, in this instance, it is.
However, remnants of a price tag with sticky glue all over the handle bothered me.
I was determined to show the adhesive label who’s in charge.

For one half hour, I peeled sticky labels off the handles of toilet brushes.
I had one of those, If they could see me now, thoughts flash through my head.
It was the principle of the thing.
Labels should come off easily and these labels did not.

Ironically, I bought the same kind of brush the last time I replaced them.
The label on the handle came off easily then.
Did they change their glue? I thought.
I wondered if there was a hidden camera somewhere in my house, since this was absurd.

I made a big job out of something that didn’t matter.
Once I started it, I had to see it through.
I’m not usually like this.
However, this unrelenting adhesive label challenged me.

The next thing I did is embarrassing to admit.
I called the toll-free number on the adhesive label.
I didn’t call to complain as much as to tell them how difficult it is to remove the label.
Your wait time is eight minutes, the computer voice informed me.

I put the phone on speaker and went about doing other things.
Very soon, someone came on the line.
I know that the eight minute warning is to deter you from holding on the line.
Can I help you? a kind voice asked me.

Yes, though this might sound a bit strange to you, I said wishing I hadn’t.
I just bought five of your replacement brushes today.
I have spent the last half hour trying to remove the adhesive labels on the handle.
I could see her eyes rolling on the other end of the phone.

I have bought your brushes before but never had this problem, I explained.
I just thought you would want to know and I wondered if you changed the glue you use?
Yes, they did change the glue, she told me.
They want the label to remain on and not tear off, she said as if that should satisfy me.

Why would they want to do that? I asked.
So people like you can find the toll-free number and call us with problems.
My mind was trying to wrap around their logic.
The label is hard to remove so you can call them about how hard their label is to remove.

She thanked me for my call.
She said that she would report my concerns.
I realized that I was simply a marketing statistic.
I took the time to call them and now I am contributing to their marketing data.

Max Lucado wrote a beautiful story entitled, You Are Special.
It is the story of little wooden people called Wemmicks.
The Wemmicks spend their days giving each other stickers.
They have a box of golden star stickers and a box of dull gray dot stickers.

If the Wemmicks were pretty, with smooth wood and fine paint, they got a gold star.
If the Wemmicks had rough paint or chipped wood, they got a dull gray dot.
The Wemmicks were covered with stickers.
One little Wemmick, named Punchinello, had so many dots that he didn’t want to go outside.

Punchinello was afraid he would do something silly or wrong and get a dull gray dot.
After a while, people gave Punchinello a dot for no reason at all.
The people concluded that Punchinello was not a good Wemmick.
Punchinello began to believe them.

One day, Punchinello saw a Wemmick, named Lucia, who was not like any other.
She had no stickers at all!
People tried to give her stickers but the stickers just didn’t stick.
Punchinello wanted to be like that, so he asked Lucia why the stickers didn’t stick.

Lucia explained to Punchinello that every day she goes to see Eli, the Woodcarver.
I sit in his workshop and spend time with Him, she explained.
Why don’t you find out for yourself? she suggested.
Why don’t you go and spend time with Eli, she encouraged.

Punchinello walked up the narrow hill to the Woodcarver’s workshop.
Eli was delighted that Punchinello came.
Let me look at you, Eli said tenderly.
Looks like you’ve been given some bad marks, Eli said as he sat Punchinello on the workbench.

I didn’t mean to...Punchinello started to explain.
You don’t have to defend yourself to Me, My child.
I don’t care what the other Wemmicks think…and you shouldn’t either, Eli said.
Who are they to give stars or dots? They are Wemmicks just like you.

All that matters is what I think. And I think you are pretty special.

For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:13,14)

All that matters is what God thinks of us.
God is our Maker after all.
Like the annoying adhesive labels that I tried to remove, people’s opinions stick to us.
We give each other stars and dots all the time.

But we shouldn’t.
Who are we to decide who gets stars and who gets dots?
We need to spend time with God to see who we really are.
What God thinks of us is all that matters.

I am glad that it took a half hour to pull those annoying labels off the brushes.
I am glad because it reminded me of how hurtful words and actions can be.
We must spend time with God so we see ourselves the way HE sees us.
All that matters is what I think. And I think you are pretty special.

You are special.
You are special.
You are special.
Do you see the stars and the dots falling off?

2 responses to “The Adhesive Label”

1. Great story, Gina! You see stories in every corner of your life–the mark of a good writer and a gift from God.

   Reply

   • Thank you, Sue. There is so much for each of us to see and hear every day. God makes Himself known.
     Gina

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