Encounters of a Beauty Advisor

On ‘No Matter What’

My manager asked for me in the promo aisle where all of the Christmas stuff is. He wanted me to help Claude. Claude is an older gentleman, not too old, though, and he was gripping his cart firmly because he was blind and his legs don't work so well.

I helped him pick out Christmas lights, batteries, and headphones. I rang him up as he said this might be his last Christmas.

I said, "You seem pretty fit for thinking of your last Christmas."

"Nah," he replied. "My eyes don't work and my legs are going, too. I lost my sister in '77, and before she died she made me promise I'd keep going no matter what. That's the only reason I'm living in a nursing home, blind and crippled."

I was both alarmed and touched. He sure did love his sister to keep a promise his heart is not into. But I hope he finds something to keep his soul filled until next Christmas.

On Gratitude, Excessive Amounts of

In her mid thirties, she seemed prone to having good days no matter what, evidenced by her compliment on my modest necklace that no one else notices.

Then she asked whether we had stamps. "You DO have stamps here? That's great!" But it was the lady she was with who needed to buy them.

Just to be sure, I asked the cheerful lady if she needed some too. "No, but thank you," she said with a sincerely grateful tone, "That was really thoughtful of you, making sure like that. You really made my day, and changed my life - both of our lives - being so thoughtful."

The lady buying stamps didn't say anything.

They went on their way. My customer turned around, smiling and pointing, "She told me there were stamps here. I like you!"

Wow.

On Signals, Not Too Subtle

She was buying something and said, "I usually get this down the street, but I'm mad at them right now."

As I rung up her purchase, she explained that she experienced a rude clerk there, but that she had been having a bad day anyhow, and he was only a small part of it.

She paid me for her purchase, and I bagged it as she told me that there was a lady ahead of her in line at that time who was taking so long, and that hadn't helped with the whole situation.

She started telling me more, but I heard a loud "psst! psst!" and my customer and I looked for the source at the front doors.

A man stood right outside, leaning in emphasis as he glared at my customer and cut his fingers across his throat repeatedly. He made the universal signal for "talking" by meeting his fingertips together like a duck's beak.

"I guess I'd better go," my customer laughed and wished me a good night.

#blind #stamps #psst #promise