Please Look After This Bear. Thank You.
Almost ironically, I had one of the worst work shifts of my life tonight - and yet my life was totally changed. It started off as any other normal shift with screaming babies, aggravated parents and impatient kids.
This lady struts in toward the end of the night. I was talking to my manager and other co-worker when my manager greeted the customer, asking how she was or if she needed any help. She said she was fine and was just browsing. My manager then pointed out the sale on jeans and gestured toward a rack of recently marked down items at the back of the store.
The customer suddenly burst into an angry rant that went something like this: "When people say that they're 'just looking', it really means that they just want to be left ALONE! I don't want to hear about all your deals and gimmicks because it's annoying! When people do that, I find it annoying and it makes me want to leave the store and not shop there anymore!"
My manager apologized and explained that she was merely doing her job. The woman wasn't having any of it and continued to be rude to my poor manager until she left; however, she was nice to my very pregnant co-worker at least. Of course, in my mind I kept thinking, I'm so tempted to keep telling her deals and bugging her so she'll leave. That's not exactly in our policy though. I didn't know whether to laugh at her ridiculous behavior, or be outraged because her 'tude was WAY out of line.
Five minutes after that horrible woman left the store, a man in his early thirties entered the kids' side of the store. Since it was my job to man that side, I quickly went over and greeted him. He explained he needed an outfit for a baby boy, possibly with a matching hat. Our current and most popular line right now is centered around Paddington Bear, the children's book character.
I led him toward the collection and showed him the few knit hats we had. He asked what the smallest size we had was and I explained that we carry a newborn size but it was really only intended for prematurely born babies or babies less than seven pounds. I then (stupidly) asked how old the baby was; it's a pretty normal question to ask when we're making recommendations and especially when it's a father who doesn't really seem to know what he's doing.
He paused and started to tear up as he explained, "I'm not going to lie to you, my son just died and he was three weeks old. So I need an outfit for him". I told him how sorry I was for his loss and explained the sizes. As we continued to look at the various options, he held my hand and I tried to talk gently to him. He kept gravitating toward a footed onesie with Paddington on the front and inquired if we had the book or a little stuffed bear. We currently didn't carry either but there are several stores in the mall that would have them.
He mentioned that he didn't know the story of Paddington and asked if I could tell me what it was about. So I told him the story of a small brown bear found waiting at a train station in London with an old leather suitcase, an unusual hat and a label around his neck. He goes to live with Mr. and Mrs. Brown after explaining that his Aunt Lucy sent him from Lima. He has adventures and learns about the world, all while eating marmalade because "Bears like marmalade".
As I continued to talk, the man began to weep and his hand holding mine began to shake. Together we chose a small blue knit cap with small teddy bear ears to match the onesie. The gentleman, still clutching my hand so tightly I thought he might break it, asked if I would pair anything else with the one-piece and knit cap. He said he "didn't want him (the baby) to be cold"; I told him that the hate would keep his son nice and warm and the onesie was snuggly.
As I was ringing up his purchase, I realized that the outfit he had chosen not only had Paddington's picture on it, but the words above the image read, "Please Look After This Bear. Thank You". This phrase was written on the label around Paddington's neck as he sat in the station when the Browns came upon him; it was too fitting for the situation. Until that point I was able to hold back the tears but upon noticing that, I couldn't control myself any more; my eyes watered as we finished our transaction.
On his way out of the store, he thanked me for being so kind to him and helping him with "such a silly task". I squeezed his hand and sent him on his way, telling him it was my pleasure.
A man on one of the worst days of his life chose to be kind and friendly to a random retail girl whom he'll most likely never see again. Then compare him to the terrible woman who was angry at and rude to all who came across her. I understand that we all have bad days, but there's no excuse for being horrible, especially to people who you don't know and are just doing their jobs. We get all sorts of people in our store and they constantly remind me that you have no idea what people are going through, what their lives are like.
As I struggle to make sense of the world with my aunt fading so quickly before my very eyes, I come across this man who is grieving the devastating loss of his baby but takes the time to speak kindly to everyone. I feel like I was meant to meet him. I'm grateful I was able to help him in a very small way, but he reminds me not to be angry at the world and helps me keep my life in perspective. God, Zeus, Allah, Fate, Universe, whatever...thank you for sending that gentleman my way.
This lady struts in toward the end of the night. I was talking to my manager and other co-worker when my manager greeted the customer, asking how she was or if she needed any help. She said she was fine and was just browsing. My manager then pointed out the sale on jeans and gestured toward a rack of recently marked down items at the back of the store.
The customer suddenly burst into an angry rant that went something like this: "When people say that they're 'just looking', it really means that they just want to be left ALONE! I don't want to hear about all your deals and gimmicks because it's annoying! When people do that, I find it annoying and it makes me want to leave the store and not shop there anymore!"
My manager apologized and explained that she was merely doing her job. The woman wasn't having any of it and continued to be rude to my poor manager until she left; however, she was nice to my very pregnant co-worker at least. Of course, in my mind I kept thinking, I'm so tempted to keep telling her deals and bugging her so she'll leave. That's not exactly in our policy though. I didn't know whether to laugh at her ridiculous behavior, or be outraged because her 'tude was WAY out of line.
Five minutes after that horrible woman left the store, a man in his early thirties entered the kids' side of the store. Since it was my job to man that side, I quickly went over and greeted him. He explained he needed an outfit for a baby boy, possibly with a matching hat. Our current and most popular line right now is centered around Paddington Bear, the children's book character.
I led him toward the collection and showed him the few knit hats we had. He asked what the smallest size we had was and I explained that we carry a newborn size but it was really only intended for prematurely born babies or babies less than seven pounds. I then (stupidly) asked how old the baby was; it's a pretty normal question to ask when we're making recommendations and especially when it's a father who doesn't really seem to know what he's doing.
He paused and started to tear up as he explained, "I'm not going to lie to you, my son just died and he was three weeks old. So I need an outfit for him". I told him how sorry I was for his loss and explained the sizes. As we continued to look at the various options, he held my hand and I tried to talk gently to him. He kept gravitating toward a footed onesie with Paddington on the front and inquired if we had the book or a little stuffed bear. We currently didn't carry either but there are several stores in the mall that would have them.
He mentioned that he didn't know the story of Paddington and asked if I could tell me what it was about. So I told him the story of a small brown bear found waiting at a train station in London with an old leather suitcase, an unusual hat and a label around his neck. He goes to live with Mr. and Mrs. Brown after explaining that his Aunt Lucy sent him from Lima. He has adventures and learns about the world, all while eating marmalade because "Bears like marmalade".
As I continued to talk, the man began to weep and his hand holding mine began to shake. Together we chose a small blue knit cap with small teddy bear ears to match the onesie. The gentleman, still clutching my hand so tightly I thought he might break it, asked if I would pair anything else with the one-piece and knit cap. He said he "didn't want him (the baby) to be cold"; I told him that the hate would keep his son nice and warm and the onesie was snuggly.
As I was ringing up his purchase, I realized that the outfit he had chosen not only had Paddington's picture on it, but the words above the image read, "Please Look After This Bear. Thank You". This phrase was written on the label around Paddington's neck as he sat in the station when the Browns came upon him; it was too fitting for the situation. Until that point I was able to hold back the tears but upon noticing that, I couldn't control myself any more; my eyes watered as we finished our transaction.
On his way out of the store, he thanked me for being so kind to him and helping him with "such a silly task". I squeezed his hand and sent him on his way, telling him it was my pleasure.
A man on one of the worst days of his life chose to be kind and friendly to a random retail girl whom he'll most likely never see again. Then compare him to the terrible woman who was angry at and rude to all who came across her. I understand that we all have bad days, but there's no excuse for being horrible, especially to people who you don't know and are just doing their jobs. We get all sorts of people in our store and they constantly remind me that you have no idea what people are going through, what their lives are like.
As I struggle to make sense of the world with my aunt fading so quickly before my very eyes, I come across this man who is grieving the devastating loss of his baby but takes the time to speak kindly to everyone. I feel like I was meant to meet him. I'm grateful I was able to help him in a very small way, but he reminds me not to be angry at the world and helps me keep my life in perspective. God, Zeus, Allah, Fate, Universe, whatever...thank you for sending that gentleman my way.
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