last night at work a woman called into the store to ask if we could blow up some balloons for her for her son’s 18th birtdhay and i said sure, it was about 30 minutes until i was supposed to leave but i figured eh if i leave late, i leave late, that’s fine. so she comes in, says all the other stores she called or went to wouldn’t do it because it was too late or apparently the manager at a different store just... didn't want? to?? w/e anyway so she comes to the dept and one of the guys calls me bc apparently according to him “all of us can do it, but some of us are better at it than others” and he’s absolutely right, i am better at it than others, but ANYWAY
so woman wants a bunch of blue balloons and a happy birthday balloon and is asking if we have any large “it’s a boy” balloons and i’m getting suspicious cuz i’d just seen like 3 posts about parents having gender reveal parties for their grown trans kids and i’m like is this what’s happening here? is she gonna tell me or no? i have like 2 rainbow pins on my work apron so it’s not like i’m not broadcasting a queer friendly vibe here
so finally as i’m blowing them up she says “i flew home a day early and his father is coming home from a business trip to surprise him. it’s my son’s 18th birthday. it’s his first birthday as arthur instead of hannah and we really want to make it special. he hasn’t wanted to celebrate his birthday for years because of family who didn’t understand and we want him to know how proud we are of him” and
i almost cried on the spot
she kept thanking me because we were the last place she could get balloons and she was so grateful that i did it for her and i was like
i mean it’s part of my job so i had to but also i was so pleased to be able to help her do this?? i hope she tells her kid that the girl at the grocery store said “i hope ARTHUR has a fantastic birthday” cuz i keep thinking about this 18 year old kid who’s gonna get surprised with balloons and flowers and his DAD who he didn’t think he’d see for a little while and have both of his parents telling him “we love you, we’re proud of you, you’re our son” and i’m just so glad this kid has such supportive and validating parents