It becomes interesting when you stand back and watch versus the urge to push and judge. This particular moment, it was worth the stand back and watch.
Let me set this up for you. It is morning, and I guess the store has been open for less than a half hour. Walking in, the greeting bellows from behind the counter and a mild-mannered young man is not smiling, but he is not at all rude either. On approaching the counter, and being the only person in the store, it becomes noticeable he is judging his day as “not going well.” I would guess there should be another staff member there to help him who has not shown up yet. As I start to order, he begins to elaborate on the troubled look on his face. His toasting oven is not working, and he is re-setting it. He is not even sure if it will work when it comes up but he needs a few minutes. At this point, another person walks in to order. Figured it is time to let the show of “choices” begin. I tell him I will wait, and he should go ahead and help this young woman.
She orders. The oven does end up working and looks like his day is turning around. Of course, she had to wait for the re-booting of the toaster which she just rolled her eyes about. Then we get to the register and…… credit card machine is not working. He asks if she has cash. The look of frustration on her face was par for the course, because certainly this was the master plan of the employee all along, to screw with her day like this. She says she will be back and goes out the door to her car.
At this time, I proceed with ordering. My challenges seemed less and less significant as I watched this guy try just to cope. Some other people walked in. He greets them and advises that he can only take cash at the moment. They acknowledge and begin to order. Then the lady comes back in. Now she brought her attitude with her as well to help out. She shoves the money at him, says there you go, grabs her bags and shakes her head as she rushes out of the store. The employee certainly set out to destroy her morning, and it worked perfectly. I bet you he told the other employee not to show up, deprogrammed the oven, and changed the credit card access codes just to feel good about having to mess with all the guests.
Now as he goes to finish my order, the other guests decide just to walk out of the store after he already started on their sandwiches, laying out the bread at least. They do not even say anything to him, just waited until he turned around, then quickly left.
At this point, I am behind on my schedule a little, but it was worth watching how people can quickly judge others when not taking the time to see what they may be going through first.
I gave the guy a smile and said: “Hey man, I hope your day gets better for you.” The look on his face was one of disbelief, and if a counter did not separate us, I think he would have hugged me. He just said, “Wow, thank you for that.” I am sure his day improved from there on.
Side note. The picture I am using in the blog was up near the front of the workstation. Has it come to needing a sign like this to remind people just to say hello to others? Ouch Humanity! That hurts.
Side Note II. The former me, the one who selfishly often looked at my human condition before considering any others, would have been rude and stormed out as well. I like having the awareness guide me now. It takes time to modify behavior, but it is well worth it.
