The Carpet

The Carpet

True story, hard to believe, but true. We had friends at seminary who got a house sitting job back home in Ontario, Canada. It was a great gig, free housing for a whole summer. It was just like any other house sitting job except for one detail – the carpeting. They were instructed that, because of the carpeting, they could not wear shoes in the house, nor could they go barefoot. Now that may not sound too odd, many of us only wear socks in the house, but then there was more instruction: They were to only have a certain number of steps per room, and the carpet being quite lush, they were to only step in a place previously stepped upon. And even more, when they entered a room, they were to walk directly to their destination. Walk directly to the chair, the table, the phone – no wandering about.

Well our friends, thought, “Whatever, the night before the owners get back we’ll just vacuum and they will be none the wiser”. The owners made a surprise visit three weeks later. They saw footprints everywhere! They were furious. The owners cut their vacation short, fired our friends, and immediately went about the task of carpet care. Being a family with a house full of great carpeting and being a family without a life.