The Awful Glass Castle & The Amazing Garage

Once upon a time, a woman had two radically different experiences on the same day. One took place in a glass castle…and the other, a garage.

The first tale happened in a beautiful glass castle — where she was a guest, who PAID for the experience and opportunity to visit. The glass castle was beautiful, but it was big. And, she found herself looking for one small section of the glass castle for a particular event, but couldn’t seem to locate it. So, she decided to ask one of the castle guards where this tiny section of the glass castle was in real life relative to the map, which was in her iPhone.

When she approached the castle guards to get some help, she was immediately asked, repeatedly, not only to produce a map of the location on demand, but simultaneously to produce her pass for admission to the glass castle — and to wear the pass — pronto. While she was trying to pull out her map, the guard DEMANDED that she wear her pass and NOT
take it off. So, she stopped looking for the map and instead dug into her bag to pull out her pass and put it on. Then, she returned to looking for the map. Once the map was found, directions were sketchy at best for the tiny section. She left the guard, without much more information, but a lot more sour for asking.

Needless to say, her experience was not a positive one inside the beautiful glass castle. In toto, visiting the glass castle was an AWFUL experience.

The second story happened…in a garage. Sitting across from a tractor in the garage, she was invited to sit down and enjoy a meal — also a PAID experience. At first glance, eating in a garage might not be anywhere near as cool as being a guest in a glass castle. However, she not only had an amazing meal, but she also was greeted by the head chef of the garage restaurant, and asked if anything could be improved or further provided to her to enjoy her experience. The bottom line: eating inside the garage was an AMAZING experience.

This is not a tale, and the once upon a time was today. These two paid experiences actually happened to me today. I won’t provide any more details, but to state that — don’t let first impressions fool you. You can have an awful time in a beautiful place, and an amazing time in a seemingly odd place. Try to keep an open mind.

Last, the woman will not be returning to the glass castle again. Ever.