I work in a decent sized, local, indie bookstore. Itβs a great job 99% of the time and a lot of our customers are pretty neat people. Any who, middle of the day this little old lady comes up. Sheβs lovably kooky. She effuses how much she loves the store and how she wishes she could spend more time in it but her husband is waiting in the car (OH! I BETTER BUY HIM SOME CHOCOLATE!), she piles a bunch of art supplies on the counter and then stops and tells me how my bangs are beautiful and remind her of the ocean (βWoooooshβ she says, making a wave gesture with her hand)
Ok. I think to myself. Awesomely happy, weird little old ladies are my favorite kind of customer. Theyβre thrilled about everything and theyβre comfortably bananas. I can have a good time with this one. So we chat and itβs nice.
Then this kid, whoβs been up my counter a few times to gather his school textbooks, comes up in line behind her (weβre connected to a major university in the city so we have a lot of harried students pass through). She turns around to him and, out of nowhere, demands that he put his textbooks on the counter. Heβs confused but she explains that sheβs going to buy his textbooks.
He goes sheetrock white. He refuses and adamantly insists that she canβt do that. Itβs like,Β $400Β worth of textbooks. She, thisΒ tiny old woman, bodily takes them out of her hands, throws them on the counter and turns to meΒ with a intenseΒ stare and tells me to put them on herΒ bill. The kid at this point is practically in tears. Heβs confused andΒ shocked and grateful. Then she turns to him and says βyou need chocolate.β She starts grabbing handfuls of chocolates and putting them in her pile.
He keepsΒ asking her βwhy areΒ you doing this?β She responds βDo you likeΒ Harry Potter?βΒ and throws a copy ofΒ the new Cursed Child on the pile too.
Finally sheβs done and I ringΒ herΒ up for a crazy amount of money. She pays and asks me to please give the kid a few bags for his stuff. While Iβm bagging up her merchandise the kid hugs her. Weβre both telling her how amazing she is and what an awesome thing sheβs done. She turns to both of us and says probably one of the most profound, unscripted things Iβve ever had someone say:
βItβs important to be kind. You canβt know all theΒ times that youβve hurt people in tiny, significant ways. Itβs easy to be cruel without meaning to be. Thereβs nothing you can do about that. But you can choose to be kind. Be kind.β
The kid thanks her again and leaves. I tell her again how awesome she is. Sheβs staring out the door after him and says to me: βMy son is a homeless meth addict. I donβt know what I did. I see that boy and I see the man my son could have been if someone had chosen to be kind to him at just the right time.β
Iβve bagged up all her stuff and at this point am super awkward and feel like I should say something but I donβt know what. Then she turns to me and says: I wish I could have bangs like that but my darn hair is just too curly.β And leaves.
And that is the story of the best customer Iβve ever had. Be kind to somebody today.
kaledo-art
tangentwithtanner
blakekathryn
discoholicmusic
titsay
stormborns
areudirty
dededos
theartofmadeline
germansingergirl
snowghoul
