This morning God pitted me against the Ice Queen. She was obviously no victor. That title was open to me then, and would have been mine had I the timing to tell her that she was perfect for her job as ice rink manager: cold as ice.

I left early instead of crying in front of the same nobodies who ignored my son as he sat in tears on the ice. You see, the Ice Queen had already given me two warnings about skating in shoes and I felt too emotional as it was to do it again. Rules are rules, I say sarcastically. 1. Even if they are not posted anywhere in sight. 2. Even if the Ice Queen didn't have the soft skills to make an announcement to parents as we gathered tightening skates that there was to be NO skating in shoes and NO strollers on the ice. I would have also appreciated knowing why, because I like to collect facts. 3. Even if some moms told me they had asked and were told shoe skating was allowed. 4. Even if four years ago we were out there with strollers and shoes (the Ice Queen looked like she could have been working on the Freshmen 15 that still plagued her four years ago). 5. And even if the wordy permission slip said nothing about the Rules of the ice rink--you know, the FAQs.

She's out there scaring people for her invisible rules. She tried to freeze my heart but my tears broke the spell. All I could muster saying to her in response to her 'I'm the manager' comment was, with 'tude, "well, your workers are telling everyone two different things [about shoes on ice]."

I loved it when her subordinate, a woman I thanked before leaving for being so helpful, told the Ice Queen, *her boss*, to get my son a pair of gloves (and see, I worried for forgetting them). I had my kids' skates off before she brought them to me. And I didn't pay for one skate rental.

Hey, everyone has problems. Being rude to a customer, well, just not being nice instead of being nice, is an indication of inner turmoil. I mean, she seriously acted like a barren woman out to inflict the pain of her glaring black-clod self to every parent and child on her ice. There was no softening her. She was and is, ladies and gentlemen, the Ice Queen, cold as ice ... Willing to sacrifice our love. If it is ice you seek, she can deliver. Anything more, a smile perhaps, nada.