Finish first, start later

Jorth sallied in to her local post office, and with a beaming smile of delight handed over her parcel collection slip to the cranky looking postal clerk, who heaved himself off his stool and lumbered towards the back room to collect her delivery.

Jorth took the opportunity to smile contentedly around the room. She adored getting parcels in the mail, and had a fairly good idea what this one contained. "God bless eBay!" she thought happily as the clerk came stomping back.

"Sign here", he ordered, stabbing a nicotined finger at the space in the collections book. As Jorth scrawled her signature the clerk appraised her parcel and muttered "Wool, eh? I takes it this means you'll be starting a new project?"

"You betcha!" beamed Jorth.

"So you've finished your last project then?" quizzed the clerk with a knowing look.

The grin began to slip a little from Jorth's face. "Well, pretty much. Just the hem and zipper hand stitching to do. Besides, I'm just itching to start knitting my new cardigan up!"

"Correct me if I'm wrong", said the clerk, learning forward and waggling his yellow finger at her, "but I believe the deal was that you had to finish your current project before you began a new one. And since you've been sprouting all over the internet about your spotty dress, I believe you'd best get that finished before you even think about knitting any darn cardigans."

She gaped at him in disbelief as he retrieved her parcel and slid it under the counter. "When that dress is finished your wool will be waiting here for you, missy", said the clerk, before looking over Jorth's shoulder and bellowing "Next!" As Jorth stood in a daze he gave her a look and sneeringly said "Well, what are you waiting for? The sooner you start the sooner you finish, so scoot!"

Poor disheartened Jorth stumbled home, feeling utterly dismayed about the turn of events. Still, she thought, the grumpy old codger did have a point. It is best to finish what you've begun, but in the future, she vowed, she wasn't going to let any postal clerks in on that little pledge.