"Thanks"

Retail can be a demanding job, especially before a big sale; in this case, the biggest sale of the year:  Black Friday.  Trying to organize the merchandise onto the proper racks, ensure the signage is correct, keep up with the dressing room clean-up, and waiting on customers can be a never ending race.  And it can be a thankless job.  No one appreciates that nicely folded table as they riffle through looking for their size...

Recently I experienced something I have rarely seen in the retail business:  thankfulness. 

I was running around like a crazy woman, trying to put in their proper place all the clothes that ladies had tried on and decided not to buy.  My arms were full, and I was racking my brain trying to remember where I had moved the blue lacey blouse when I heard a voice behind me.  "I am so sorry to bother you" she nicely said, "but can you help me find a medium in this skirt.  I know you are really busy, and I hate to interrupt, but I can't find it myself." 

I work in retail.  It is my job to help people find things.  I am expected to drop all that I am doing to hunt down assorted objects.  It what I get paid to do.  Most people don't ask for help; they demand it.  And again, that is what I am paid to do.

Words cannot describe how much that one simple statement meant to me.  I probably shouldn't tell you how fast I threw down the load in my arms, as my boss (whom I love!!) might see this one day.  My entire focus changed.  No longer did I see the massive, MASSIVE to do list that I only had two hours to complete.  I saw this one woman who had asked for my help; most people don't ask, they demand.

I am happy to say we found the skirt in question.  Again she thanked me for taking the time to look and for the trouble it had supposedly caused me.  When I got off work two hours later I was still smiling.  She had said "thank-you"; she had noticed my armload and appreciated me.

As you rush through your  holiday shopping this year, please take the time to notice the folded tables and the organized clothes racks.  It takes a lot of work to get them to look like that.  And please thank your salesperson.  You never know how much that single expression can mean to the person on the other side of the check-out.