By Kit Morgan
Years ago
I was standing in the checkout line of a grocery store in an upscale
neighborhood. There were two people in front of me. The checker was a young
woman that looked to be in her early twenties. Now this particular neighborhood
had a lot of rich folks in it. Many were nice, some not so much.
Unfortunately
for the poor checker, the woman she was checking out was one of the latter.
“What’s the matter with you?” the woman snapped. “Can’t you speed things up? Are
you stupid?”
That’s the line that caught everyone’s
attention. Our heads came up as one and we stared at the checker, whose eyes
were misting with tears, “I’m doing the best that I can,” the young checker said
apologetically.
The woman, who was short, plump, and had on a lot of jewelry as I recall shot back.“No you’re not,” the woman spat. “You can’t
even do your job right.”
That did it …
But before I could say anything, the guy behind me spoke up. “Leave her alone
and get out of the line, lady. Go home, have a cup of whatever and chill out!”
The rest of us looked at him, then the woman,
who looked about to blow. She scrunched up her face, making her eyes look
beady, and glared at him. I’ll never forget that look, and have used it as a
signature look for one of my reader’s favorite characters, Mrs. Dunnigan.
Thankfully, by this time the checker was finished. The woman turned her glare on
her, grabbed her bag of groceries and stomped away. What happened next though,
brought the checker to full tears.
Words of kindness flowed from everyone. The
man behind me even tipped the girl twenty dollars as she was ringing me up for
going above and beyond in dealing with the woman, then said he was going to
speak to the manager about what a fine job she did.
I myself hugged her before
I left, leaving her to more words of praise and kindness from everyone behind
me. It’s not that she did anything special to deal with the bully, she held her
tongue, but if left unchecked the woman would have continued to berate and belittle
the poor checker.
No one deserves to be treated like that when they’re simply
doing their job. And everyone in line let her know it. I watched her thank and
hug the people that were behind me and left knowing that the girl would focus
on the kindness given, and not the harsh treatment of a bully.
About the author: Kit Morgan
loves creating stories of hope and love in her little log cabin in the woods in
the great Pacific Northwest. Learn more about Kit and her books at:
Oh I see this all the time and really the people doing the bullying seem to be so angry at the whole world - like they have to pull us all into their misery!! Bravo for you!
ReplyDeleteYes, misery loves company as the saying goes! You could tell she was one angry woman.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness that is no way to talk to a checker who is only trying to do her job I bet on her break she was crying as noone deserves to be talked to like that . I know that is the way i was talked to by a man in a dept i was working and finally i was so fed up with it i quit. I had been working there for more than 10 years but it wasn';t worth it at all. Oh gosh I know when i got to the checker i would of tried to be so nice and talk to her until she was laughing at the lady. peggy clayton ptclayton2@aol.com
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