A smile goes a long way...

I am learning that having a job forces you pay attention to the way people treat other people.

Those of you who have had jobs in retail, know what I'm talking about...
It is incredible the amount of patience and self-control it takes to handle a stranger's impatience when he or she is pointing a finger at you... expecting you to drop everything to do what they need...faster... or more efficiently, or "how dare you mess up my receipt" or "how dare you ask me to not cut in front of ten other people so that you can get home faster" or whatever... It's all the same...it's all rude.
Sorry?...absolutely not.
I always think, "Man, you don't even know who I am...if you treat me this way... how do you treat your family?

I do have a brighter point that I am trying to make...so hang with me...

Yesterday was a busy day in the kitchen-land I have embraced this holiday season... and I have become incredibly aware that people get crazzzy during the holidays.
Now not everyone I encounter is terrible...really it's only like 2%... but that 2% can be strong and can stick with me for hours.
I got the ultimate Cruella of all Scrooges... and seriously... the chick was lucky I had control enough not smack her around and give her a few words (By the way, thanks for the help, Jesus)...
After she left, I got consoled by my coworkers who were the kind of friends you need in that situation... instantly bad-mouthing and name-calling... but still... man-oh-man I don't handle things like that well... I internalize them too much... and it affects me more than I'd like to admit.

But about an hour later, the sweetest woman came in and saved my afternoon.
After I complimented her color choice in dish cloths (yellow, duh) she began telling me all about her husband's 90 year-old aunt, who had recently decided to give her kitchen a complete makeover... pretty impressive for a 90 year-old right?... That's what I thought.
While we were chatting, she spotted my Aggie ring and asked when I was graduating and what my plans were for the future. It just so happened that her daughter graduated from A&M about 8 years ago with a degree in education as well. She then began telling me how wonderful she thought A&M was and how she felt that her daughter had been prepared to go into the teaching world with a lot of practical information and experience.
She wished me luck and told me that she could tell, just from talking to me for those few minutes, that
I was going to be just fine.

Wow... she just made my day.

Thirty minutes later, the same lady came back into the store, stood in line at my register, and waited to talk to me again. She spent the next five minutes, pouring information, advice, and encouragement into me... I was truly in awe. I felt like she had known me for years... like she cared deeply about me and my future...and I don't even know her name.

So what is my point?

You have heard it before,
"Smile. you never know how it could brighten a person's day"...
well it's true.
I don't think that woman thought twice about coming back and telling me everything she could think of to help me, or guide me, or encourage me...but she did.
She did so much more than smile... she made me feel loved and appreciated... just because I was alive. She doesn't know me... she doesn't know what I believe in, or who I am friends with, or my family... All she knew was that I am a kid about to graduate college, working at Williams-Sonoma over the break... and she cared.

We should all care.

Don't let the craziness of our society's worldly, materialistic Christmas stray you away from what really matters... love. encourage. smile... everyone you meet deserves no less than that.

(and if you stuck with me through all of that...well you are somethin' else!)