My best friend told me last night of a little story that made me fall asleep on my pillow with a big, cheesy smile on my face.
Her girlfriend Kendra works in retail and majority of the time it can be a very enjoyable working environment. Kendra, however, had one of those days. For those who work or previously have in retail - we've all had them. In fact, any one who has had to deal with a portion of the human population in some form has had those days. So let's go with everyone! Every bloody body reading this blog can relate. Special mention to hospitality workers - almost every time some one tells me they are beginning work as a waitress/bar staff at a restaurant or related, I can't help but laugh inside about the ghastly time they'll have, followed closely by an overwhelming sense of pity towards them. And then lastly I am aware of my content, morbidly happy I am not them at that point in time. I then go back to laughing again, in their face this time. None of this is deliberate either, it is literally an automatic bodily response. Every. Single. Time. (note: hospitality workers that actually enjoy their line of work - that's great!)
For my story's purpose however we'll relate to those painful, infuriating, soul crushing days with a retail example. Your day goes somewhat like this...
- Every customer is horribly rude
- They try on everything in the store but leave their wallets in their bags
- Every customer that is horribly rude is also horribly ugly (sorry but it's true)
- You stub your toe on one of the cardboard boxes in storage
- You only have a shitty salad for lunch & everyone else you work with has leftover lasagne and/or your favourite meal of all time (don't get me wrong, I love a good salad but I'm talkin' shitty - iceberg lettuce, icy cucumber and some leftover ham. That's it.)
- For some reason that same day your boss decides to despise you - just for the day
- You're asked those questions you have no idea how to answer, nor do you have the authority to
- You're asked why you don't know the answer to those questions
- You stub your toe again, on the same cardboard box as before
- You get out of work later than usual, and by that stage you're already imagining the large McDonalds meal you're going to devour out of pure rage and self pity
- You eat the large McDonalds meal
- You hate yourself
NO ONE LIKES THESE DAYS, BUT THEY HAPPEN. AND I'M HERE FOR YOU.
Anyway, for Kendra - her day was beginning to look a lot like that one. DOOOOMMM.
I don't know exactly what the customer did to her, or how he treated her - but I'm certain it was something from the above examples.
He left her feeling terribly hurt, and in belief that her day was headed for the drive through.
In the late afternoon, this particular customer re-entered the store for the second time, carrying a jar of lollies.
He apologised for being abrupt with her earlier and said he 'didn't want to be the reason for her enduring a bad day'. BLESS!
Yes, yes he started the day off negatively, and I do not condone hurting someone's feelings just so you can be a big hero and shower them with gifts later. But - this little story shows a glimmer of hope in today's society. And I don't know about you, but it definitely brightened up my mood!
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| The lollies mentioned in this story. Gah - stop it! |
