It brings me great pleasure to put a smile on a stranger's face. I can recall moments I have shared with complete strangers, dating back ages ago, and still find myself grinning, laughing, and reminiscing.
I can not enter an AC Moore, Forever 21 or a DSW without striking up conversation with at least one person. I've exchanged craft ideas with middle aged women, had a gay guy at Forever help me pick out my outfit for the weekend, and a girl at DSW tell me that I HAD to get those heels, just in case I needed them for NYE this year. It's AUGUST, I don't need them, but I needed her to give me the justification! And don't get me started on the amount of times I should have been paid by a store for assisting a customer to find the shoe department, a top in their size, or most recently, the de-wormer at PetCo.
Last Friday, I managed to break my glasses. I have NO idea how I pulled that one off, but this isn't going to be about my drunken night out. This week, I stopped in at the optical department at Target where a nice man told me that he would only charge me a measly million dollars to repair them for me. Considering his joking tone, I had a feeling he wouldn't make me pay a dime, and he hadn't even asked if I got my glasses there. [I hadn't.]
Friday night of this week, I was so sick of wearing my contacts and my old glasses that Dexter used as a chew toy that I made it back in the store. The same guy was there and in less than 2 minutes my glasses were repaired, free of charge. He was "just happy to help." Maybe the store doesn't have a button on their register for glasses repair, or a cost for one tiny screw. I know that the guy didn't go out of his way to fix these for me, and he was just doing his job, but he still made my day. I thought I would have to buy a whole new pair of glasses before I could begin to get these ones fixed.
I expressed my gratitude and proceeded to hit up the popcorn stand at Target. [If you go to Target and you don't get popcorn, a hot dog or Pizza Hut personal pie while you're there, YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG.]
On my way out, I bought a $10 "thank you" gift card and went back over to the vision center. I suppose the gentleman was in the back office, I was so happy, because I quickly tossed it on his side of the counter and walked away. I had noticed his name on his badge earlier, and signed it with my name... so he would definitely know it was for him. He may not even put two and two together that I'm Ashley, the girl whose glasses he had repaired moments ago. I just hope that with the gift card, he treated himself to some popcorn, too. Maybe he even bought some for his co-workers, who knows. Scott may not have been phased by my thank you gesture, but his kindness made my day.
I imagine that on Friday there were a few people who annoyed me, too. There's always the person holding up the line, slowing down traffic, or doing something that seems so irritating at the moment but is insignificant in retrospect. The people I want to remember two days later, and continue to meet for the rest of my life, are the ones like Scott. Shouldn't we all?
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