PhotoMat, where is thy sting?

As it always seems to happen, I was presented with yet another photographic opportunity on my way to work the other morning. And as it also always seems to happen my camera is never with me whenever I am presented with a great or, in this case, oddball subject for a photo. To be certain a Canon Digital Rebel is hardly a point and shoot camera. What would suit my needs would be a camera phone or a small and very portable digital camera.

The stoplight near the parking deck where I normally deposit my car turned red just as I was approaching the intersection. Normally I hate to be stopped like that, especially when I'm pushing the fine line between being on time or late. But on this particular morning it was a blessing. Waiting in the traffic coming from my right were two Hispanic women in an SUV that was four times too big for them. It gave the appearance of two kids playing in their parents' car, pretending to be driving. They were dressed in uniforms of emerald green, their hair matted and spit-curled on their foreheads, their facial expressions the textbook definition of dour. Given the direction they were heading it quickly became clear to me that they were on their way to jobs at the Holiday Inn. There are actually two Holiday Inns in town about two blocks apart, largely divided by a public housing project (Berlin Wall, eat your heart out). It would explain their condemned-man grim expressions; cleaning hotel rooms for a living can't be that much fun, not even with perks like free shampoo and conditioner. But as these two women headed off to their low-paying, service industry jobs, I had to laugh in spite of myself. The combination of hairstyle, facial expressions, and green uniforms reminded me instantly of two Oompa Loompas from Willy Wonka. It didn't help much when the song lyrics popped into my head: " Oompa Loompa Doompadee Doo, we're gonna clean this guest room for you...." And my camera was nowhere to be found!