Nobody said there was going to be a quiz. 
Our local coffee shop makes really good cinnamon buns every Wednesday. It’s a “mom and pop” store. There’s usually a line-up. They bake them fresh every day.
One day, I was in line behind a woman and the line was moving slowly. Everyone was buying up coffee and the cinnamon buns. And, we could see from the trays that there weren’t many left.
Sure enough, when the lady got to the front of the line, the last bun was gone. It was Mom behind the counter. She apologised and said that the next batch would be ready in 10 minutes. The lady said “I’ve stood in line for 10 minutes and my break is almost over. I can’t wait 10 minutes.” And she ordered a coffee to go, a bit grumpily.
Mom and Pop went into a huddle, and Pop turned to the customer: “You work around here, right? If you write down the address where you work, I’ll bring your cinnamon bun to you as soon as it’s ready, hot out of the oven.”
The lady didn’t believe him at first, but he gave her a pen and paper. She wrote her name and address, looking a bit surprised. I said “A hot cinnamon bun delivered to you personally! I’ll bet that makes you feel special !” She looked at me, still a bit surprised, and said with a smile “It does!”
So I ordered my coffee and sat down, and sure enough, about 10 minutes later, Pop goes off with the cinnamon bun and an extra coffee to make the special delivery, during the busiest time of their busiest day of the week.
A boy, maybe 10 years old, wants a toy. His parents say “no.” He replies “Well, I’m going to sit on the floor until I get it” and proceeds to sit on the floor at my register.
I ring up the order, accept payment, and as I’m handing the credit card back I act like I’m noticing the boy for the first time and say “We don’t allow sitting on the floor here. You have to stand up.”
The boy knows he can’t argue with me. He stands up, and as the mother grabs his shoulder and marches him out the door, I see she’s biting her lip to keep from laughing. The father mouths “Thank You” at me.
For some of these kids, I’d like to graphically illustrate to them exactly why head slaps were outlawed in the NFL. Your method is better, though. LOL
At Walmart self checkout I requested 20 dollars cash back. Walked out the door and realized that I probably didn’t get the 20 dollars. I went back and there was no money. I made a comment to the worker there, thinking they may have noticed and picked it up. She called the manager. They checked the video and saw me leave the money and another customer snatch it up as soon as I left. They gave me 20 dollars. I didn’t expect it since it was my dumb mistake.
I ring up purchases for a boy, maybe ten years old. It comes to $20.06. He hands me a twenty and a ten. No way I’m going to break a ten dollar bill for six cents, so I had it back to him and whisper conspiratorially “Don’t tell anybody.”
Lady behind him has purchases of $19.99. She hands me a twenty, say “Don’t worry about the penny, and here’s a nickel so your drawer won’t be short.” I look at her and say “Oh, you caught that, did you?” She says “Yes, it was such a nice thing for you to do.”
Sometimes six cents can buy a lot of good feeling.
I was looking for Splenda in Costco a couple of days ago, and approached a passing employee. I noticed at the last minute that she was taking her vest off, and asked if she was going on break. She said yes, but to go ahead with my question, and directed me to where I could find the Splenda. When I got to the aisle, she was there ahead of me taking down a box of Splenda, and said she wanted to make sure I found it.
When I’m in line and see a store employee with a snack behind me, I ask if they’re on a break.(They always are, I ask when there are people between us.) I let them in front of me. Who wants to spend half their break still on their feet? I’ve never gotten a dirty look from the ones in between.
But this one that I saw on Twitter makes me ashamed of bragging. A woman posted that her son and daughter-in-law had just bought a new house and ordered a bunch of furniture. But before delivery, he was diagnosed with cancer and had to call to cancel. (Thanks again, American healthcare system.) A few days later, a delivery truck showed up with all the furniture and an invoice marked “paid in full.”
Shop locally, y’all.
There’s a hardware store not quite a mile from me, really the only one left right in the center of town. It’s not huge like Lowes or Home Depot, but it has 95% of what I ever need, so I shop there when I need something.
Once, while I was teaching Sunday School, I went there to buy some of those flat sticks one uses to stir paint with, in the can. It was for a craft project in class, we were making bullroarers. When I told the paint guy what I needed he gave them to me for free. Also, most of the salespeople have long experience, and when I ask questions they never make me feel stupid for not knowing what I need, or how to use it.
When I was a little kid, my mom would give me 30 cents to buy myself a treat at the local drugstore. I’d go through and pick a candy bar, but they always came out to 32 cents, with tax, and the ladies at the register always let me slide.
I need to mention Mrs. Cheesesteak. She was shopping and picked up a few of cartons of really nice strawberries. Another shopper commented that they looked really good, and she pointed him to the display.
After checking out, she was packing her bags, this was at an Aldi where you bag up after completing your purchase, and she notices the guy bagging his stuff nearby. He didn’t have any strawberries, so she asked and he said they ran out by the time he got to the display. so she gave him a carton. Can’t let a guy go home without strawberries!
Not the receiving end, but the giving. My wife and I were eating at a restaurant not long ago. We were seated near an old gentleman wearing an Air Force hat that was eating by himself. My wife gave me a look like she was up to something. When the waiter delivered our dinner, my wife told him to bring us the bill for the gentleman and to add one of their mini pies to it. Plus my wife didn’t want the waiter to tell the guy who bought his dinner. Just before we finished, we heard him ask for his bill. The waiter told him that his bill was taken care of and wanted to know what kind of pie he would like. The guy looked like he was ready to cry. As we left we noticed he had a big smile as he ate his chocolate cream pie.
We do this a few times a year. Winning a nice chunk of change in the lotto means we will likely do it more often.
We’re in the midst of our fall muck-out of the homestead, so I put on a pair of old jeans for cleaning the front porch. Needed some stuff to make chicken korma, so jumped in the car and headed for the local market. As she was ringing it up, I suddenly realized that I had no wallet and no cash with me. I did the “Oh, crap!” head smack thing and when she asked, I told her what an idiot I was and that I’d need to run home to get the money. She looked at the total and said “Hey, just take it home and call the number on the receipt to pay by credit card.”
:eek:
We’re so fortunate to have a genuine, independent, family run hardware store in our neighborhood. Normally, I prefer trying to find things on my own in stores but here, I gladly ask for assistance from the two brothers and one sister who work there because I enjoy talking to them.
We live in an area where most houses are around eighty or a hundred or more years old. These folks keep in stock things that the big box stores would turn their noses up at. When a small piece inside of one of our century-old doorknob assemblies broke, I went there to see if they had a replacement part. The brother who helped me said they don’t make those anymore then proceeded to pull out a box of other old doorknob assembly bits and pieces and let me look through it to see if I could find something that matched. Alas, there was nothing and I had to buy a brand new set (that was made to use skeleton key!) anyway. I do wonder how many other boxes of random, obsolete old stuff they keep on hand for their customers.
And if you’re not sure if what you’re looking at is what you need, they open up the package and even assemble it for you so you can have a look. No pressure to buy it if you’re not sure. They even do small repairs, such as fixing a lamp for an elderly lady I know.
These three siblings will all be retiring in the next several years and it doesn’t appear that they’re training another generation to take on the mantle. I suspect they’ll close the store rather than try of find someone to buy it (who’ll make lots of changes to make it more profitable.) The neighborhood won’t be the same once they’re gone.
I once went to a CVS armed with a coupon for, like, 40 percent off a single item. When I got to the counter, I was a little annoyed to discover that the coupon had automatically been applied to a fairly cheap item instead of the one that was noticeably more expensive than any of the other items. The person at the counter immediately suggested that I make two purchases in succession – one with the expensive item by itself so the coupon would definitely go there, and one involving all of the other items. It wasn’t a big deal in terms of dollar value, but I certainly did appreciate the person at the counter looking out for me.
The supermarket my son shops at not only hires mentally handicapped as packers, but has an interesting policy of giving free lamb shanks just before Passover. I got one once and the butcher pulled out a leg of lamb, sawed off the shank and wrapped it up for me. Now there is no meat on the shank but whoever bought the rest of the leg was going to get it a bit cheaper because that bone wasn’t there.
Got off the night shift at 7am. Stopped by a taco joint on my way home. When I walked in, I noticed they had a bar. I half jokingly asked if the bar was open.
Cashier: “No, but I’ll go back there and open it for you.”
I only stayed for two beers but I thought that was really cool of him.
Yesterday a woman put her credit card through, and she was $5.30 short on her purchases. As she’s panicking, having no other card and no cash, the man behind her says “Put it on my card.” She’s very grateful, and promises to pay it forward.
People can be so nice sometimes.
The cashier fellow at Walmart yesterday was wearing this jacket. WM is all blues and golds and here’s this guy just looking très snazz-ay! Plus friendly as all get out!
To all the retail workers on this board - thank you for putting up with the %$!%# that I know you do at this time of year without going postal on the lot of us!