December 24, 2000. 5:40 p.m.
It was winter break, back in my college days, and I was working my usual home-from-ASU job at my local mall department store. I took all the hours I could get while on school breaks, and that included 8:00 a.m to close on Christmas Eve. We were busy that day. Very busy.
I spent the first 90 minutes of my shift ringing up customer purchases, one after another. At about 9:30 there was a lull, so I went to straighten some neckties, but a minute later I was back to the register for another hour or so. That’s just how it was.
Closing time was 6:00 p.m., and as it approached, I could smell it. It smelled like mom’s home-cooked Christmas dinner with all the fixin’s, and I was excited.
I was tired too, but I kept smiling for my customers, because hey, it’s Christmas and I was glad to have a job, and basically I don’t know any other way.
About twenty minutes before closing time as I saw off another completed transaction, I looked up at the next person in line, dug deep for a sincere smile, and as I had done hundreds of times that day, I said, “Hi, how are you?”
“In a hurry,” she said curtly.
I’m far from perfect, and I’m going to admit that in that moment, all I could think was that I, too, was in a hurry to get out of here, and that her poor planning was not my emergency, blah, blah, blah.
A few minutes after she was gone, however, and as the evening wore on, I began to think more and more about the myriad factors affecting that woman’s life at that moment, that were totally unknown to me. I prayed then that whatever was troubling her would soon dissolve into peace, and I still think about it now.
I had an incredibly fortunate upbringing, with parents who loved and supported me. I’ve worked hard to make the most of things, and pay it forward in whatever ways I can find. So, as it happens, I had no reason to be too badly hurt by that customer’s words so long ago.
But by the same token, I remember what it was like to work those long hours, and how different it can be facing the public during these harried shopping weeks. And just as the woman who snapped at me while doing her shopping may have had a hundred good reasons for doing so, the people who now work behind counters, pack shipments, or do any other job affected by this season may be dealing with a lot more in their personal lives than I was back in 2000.
I’m still nowhere close to perfect, but I will do my best every day, especially at this time of year, to show love and a positive attitude when serving and being served. These things are free to give away, and I never know who needs them more than I do.