STORY TIME:
I work in a decent sized, local, indie bookstore. It’s 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. She’s 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 (“Wooooosh” 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. They’re thrilled about everything and they’re comfortably bananas. I can have a good time with this one. So we chat and it’s nice.
Then this kid, who’s been up my counter a few times to gather his school textbooks, comes up in line behind her (we’re 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. He’s confused but she explains that she’s going to buy his textbooks.
He goes sheetrock white. He refuses and adamantly insists that she can’t do that. It’s like, $400 worth of textbooks. She, this tiny old woman, bodily takes them out of her hands, throws them on the counter and turns to me with a intense stare and tells me to put them on her bill. The kid at this point is practically in tears. He’s confused and shocked and grateful. Then she turns to him and says “you need chocolate.” She starts grabbing handfuls of chocolates and putting them in her pile.
He keeps asking her “why are you doing this?” She responds “Do you like Harry Potter?“ and throws a copy of the new Cursed Child on the pile too.
Finally she’s done and I ring her up for a crazy amount of money. She pays and asks me to please give the kid a few bags for his stuff. While I’m bagging up her merchandise the kid hugs her. We’re both telling her how amazing she is and what an awesome thing she’s done. She turns to both of us and says probably one of the most profound, unscripted things I’ve ever had someone say:
"It’s important to be kind. You can’t know all the times that you’ve hurt people in tiny, significant ways. It’s easy to be cruel without meaning to be. There’s nothing you can do about that. But you can choose to be kind. Be kind.”
The kid thanks her again and leaves. I tell her again how awesome she is. She’s staring out the door after him and says to me: “My son is a homeless meth addict. I don’t 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.”
I’ve bagged up all her stuff and at this point am super awkward and feel like I should say something but I don’t 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.“ And leaves.
And that is the story of the best customer I’ve ever had. Be kind to somebody today.
Random thoughts on personality quizzes and types and systems:
Like most people, I’ve taken a quiz or two and read up on personality systems and even looked at my zodiac signs (Greek and Chinese-which I’m still the most skeptical on because they both so far off it’s laughable).
But I’ve come to an idea regarding the others, like Myers-Brigg and the Enneagram system, and that is:
I don’t think there is one right system, but perhaps different systems work for different people.
Because let’s face it, humans are so unique and full of nuances and there’s quite a lot of us so how could the whole fit into 16, 9, or even just 4 personalities?
I’ve taken the Myers-Brigg so many times and each time I would get a different answer depending on the day (though it mostly stayed within four choices of INFP, INFJ, ISFP ISFJ).
Several other systems labaled me as a White or from Peace Country or a Leo (which is the funniest of all).
Then I took a quiz for the Enneagram system and got a 4. And when I read the description, I was amazed to find how much it resonated with me. And then when I got an in depth book, it was almost scary how on the nose it was.
So why aren’t I advocating the Enneagram system with all my being?
Because the people around me don’t seem to fit as well into the Enneagram system as I do. (The greatest example being my dad because he seems to be an enigma to all the systems).
So if the goal is to have a better understanding of yourself and others, there’s nothing wrong with subscribing to the systems, as long as you keep in mind they are tools for improving yourself and your experience with others.
How many of you were misdiagnosed the first time?
How many of you felt that your assessor wasn’t taking you seriously?
What sort of tests did they do? What sort of questions did they ask? And did they make sense in relating to ASD, especially in adult women?
What did you do after the assessment when you were told everything seems normal? And that you were just experiencing mild forms of anxiety and showed slight traces of OCD?
What do I do when I've done so much research, heard so many stories from people in the ASD community and related to them so well, used their knowledge and experience to help me get through my daily life a litter easier, only to be told by a professional that I'm not Actually Autistic?
Was tagged by @a-lighthouse-a-man-a-city . I love doing these!
Have you ever written a chapter or scene and as you’re writing it you’re thinking “this is terrible.” But you keep writing it because you have to see it through to the end even though you’re already planning to trash it and are working on ideas to replace it with?
I will say this for Dune, it’s gotten some pretty sweet cover designs over the years
I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts and videos that have been talking about how stories, whether they be in film or literary media (or even video games!), have made huge impacts that stay with people for the rest of their lives.
So it got me wondering; what stories did that for me?
Now understand, for me, these aren’t the stories that I would consider my all time favorites, though I would rank them in the top tiers. These aren’t the stories that I go to in order to have a good time and escape from the world. Rather, these are the fictional stories that have helped me grasp lessons that I probably wouldn’t have learned had someone just tried to shove them down my throat. And because of that, they give me a personal goal to aspire to as someone who wants to be a teller of impacting stories.
(As you can see, I couldn’t pick just one form of media.)
Novel - A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Lesson: That there is great power in kindness, empathy, and imagination. The world around us can be cruel and unforgiving, but that does not mean you should bend with it. To be a better person is difficult, especially when life gets hard, but there are those that have it worse and one is never too destitute to help someone else. And all it takes is a little imagination.
Graphic Novel - The Courtney Crumrin series by Ted Naifeh
Lesson: That our desires, needs, and even well meaning actions, have consequences. In fact, everything that involves choice has consequences. Some are good, some are bad, but you can’t escape right now or years down the road that they will shape life in ways that cannot be changed. But we don’t have to be in this chaotic mess alone. We can choose to find and keep people close to us to help make facing the consequences a little easier.
Film - Laputa: Castle in the Sky by Studio Ghibli
Lesson: That there is nothing wrong with having dreams so wildly out there they could be considered fantasy. Dreaming big is what has pushed humanity to the point where it is now and it will continue to traverse boundaries. That being said, we should not let those dreams become so all encompassing that we forget what it means to be human; to be able to love and see the beauty around us. Yes, it is good to dream of impossibilities that stretch beyond the sky, but it is also equally important to plant roots in the ground we stand on.
Just found this browsing. Nearly screamed my head off. Good thing the action figure is on its way right now or else I would be going through cardiac arrest from lack of sexy Knockout-ness!
Just a random list of things that annoy me to no end when it comes to cashiering at a grocery store.
1. When customers get mad at the cashier for an item being priced ‘incorrectly’.
Really, people. It’s not our fault. We’re not the ones setting the prices, and not even the people stocking the items are. That is something that is set by the company. Plus all the cashier is doing is scanning the item; 9/10 times, even we don’t know what the price is going to be. So please don’t go around getting angry with us when something doesn’t come up right (or what you think is supposed to be right), because most of the time, there’s really nothing we can do about it, and we don’t deserve your bad attitude making our day harder.
2. When people get into a lane that doesn’t have its light on (indicating that they are NOT open).
Why don’t people pay attention? Did it ever occur to the customer to look up and make sure that the lane they are getting into is still open? Just because we’re helping someone at the moment, doesn’t mean that we are still open and customers are welcome to just start setting a large order of stuff onto the conveyor belt. Because most of the time, we’re rather desperate at that point to have a break, get something to eat, or just go home (having already been waiting to leave for quite some time since said break/clocking out time was due).
3. When someone puts far more than the amounted items at an Express Lane.
Once again, PAY ATTENTION! The whole point of an Express Lane is so people can get in and out of the store as quickly as possible. If the number of items is only a few over, that’s okay. But having someone come over and say, drop over $500 dollars worth of stuff onto the belt kind of ruins the flow, and thus no longer makes it an Express Lane for the people behind them. So please, have some consideration for someone other than yourself. Especially when said self absorbed attitude causes the people behind you to glare at us cashiers like we’re the ones that let you be so inconsiderate (even though our bosses tell us to check them out anyway).
4. When people go around pushing all the buttons on the Self-Checkouts and think the machine is breaking because they’ve confused it.
Self-Checkout is my favorite area, to be quite honest. I love just being able to stand to the side and help people figure out how to use the machines when needed. But when the customers go around not paying attention to how things need to go for the experience to run smoothly....it gets pretty bothersome. The machines are designed for items to be scanned and then placed on the bagging area ONE AT AT TIME. When you try to scan something else before putting the previous item down, it messes things up; ESPECIALLY when you press the ‘Don’t Want to Bag’ button and then place said item that you ‘didn’t want to bag’ down in the bagging area, thus causing the machine to get suspicious of the extra weight and ask you to remove the item that you ‘haven’t scanned yet’. One at at time, people, ONE AT A TIME.
5. When customers bring a whole cart full of stuff to the Self-checkouts.
Kind of similar to the whole ‘Express Lane’ thing. To me, self-checkouts are there to make the shopping experience quicker. It takes more than twice as long for someone to bag their own stuff than it would have taken a cashier to bag their stuff while the customer was putting things on the conveyor belt, when it comes to large orders. Plus, when you bring a cart to the self-checkout area, it severely clogs up the space, for EVERYONE. Trying to get around a cart to just get to the next available machine can be a challenge, unless you resort to being rude, which is not something anyone should do.
6. When people hover way too close to another customer while waiting for their turn.
Personal space. Look it up. Whether it’s at a regular lane or at the self-checkouts, give people some room to breath. It will be your turn eventually. Do your fellow human being a favor and just wait a polite distance away. Hovering over them isn’t going to make them leave any faster, and it’s just plain rude to silently imply that they need to hurry up because clearly it’s your turn and they need to get moving.
7. When someone doesn’t move after getting their receipt.
And now for the other side; let’s not loiter, people. Once you get your stuff, it would be quite nice if you at least stepped away if you feel the need to check your receipt. While it doesn’t hurt to check and make sure you weren’t charged twice or anything, it would help if you didn’t stay in a place someone else needs to be in order to complete their purchase. Especially at the self-checkouts! If you don’t want to have your space rudely invaded, than be polite and step out of the way.
So anyway, that’s my rant. Just needed to get it out of my system :)
Just random stuff that pops into my head or tends to circulate through my brain.
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