An anecdote:
A few years ago, I was in my soon-to-be shop getting things ready; building furniture; organizing, etc. A woman whom I had never seen before walked in through the open door, and we began to chat. Abruptly, after about five minutes, she asked if she could pray for my shop, and I said, "why not?" I figured she'd say a few words, and we could get on with our chat. She grabbed my hand so tightly, my fingers crunched. I thought, "well, this should be fun," and she got on with a bunch of chanting and what I could only assume was speaking in "tongues". After about seven minutes, she finally let go of my throbbing hand, and said, "amen". Then, she said a nice goodbye, and left.
The next time she came back, she brought a friend, and the two of them repeated the behavior; then another couple of friends came along. It was like they were trying to turn my shop into a church. They were just taking over.
After a couple of months of this happening, like, six or seven times, I finally spoke up. I said very nicely, "I'm sorry; I'm a non-believer and I have a lot of work to do." The original lady lost her shit, decided I needed a sermon the caliber of which has only otherwise been witnessed on "the Mount". I let her go on for ten minutes or so, all of her friends staring at her, rapt, and then I jumped in and said, "really, folks. I have a lot of work to do. Would you like to do a craft?" They left with the original lady in a huff of, "well. We'll just go somewhere else, where we are tolerated."
A few years ago, I was in my soon-to-be shop getting things ready; building furniture; organizing, etc. A woman whom I had never seen before walked in through the open door, and we began to chat. Abruptly, after about five minutes, she asked if she could pray for my shop, and I said, "why not?" I figured she'd say a few words, and we could get on with our chat. She grabbed my hand so tightly, my fingers crunched. I thought, "well, this should be fun," and she got on with a bunch of chanting and what I could only assume was speaking in "tongues". After about seven minutes, she finally let go of my throbbing hand, and said, "amen". Then, she said a nice goodbye, and left.
The next time she came back, she brought a friend, and the two of them repeated the behavior; then another couple of friends came along. It was like they were trying to turn my shop into a church. They were just taking over.
After a couple of months of this happening, like, six or seven times, I finally spoke up. I said very nicely, "I'm sorry; I'm a non-believer and I have a lot of work to do." The original lady lost her shit, decided I needed a sermon the caliber of which has only otherwise been witnessed on "the Mount". I let her go on for ten minutes or so, all of her friends staring at her, rapt, and then I jumped in and said, "really, folks. I have a lot of work to do. Would you like to do a craft?" They left with the original lady in a huff of, "well. We'll just go somewhere else, where we are tolerated."
Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.
