Little Acts of Kindness Made My Day
They say it is not the big bite that hurts most. It is the smaller ones. They say also that big things come in small packages. Because of what happened today, I would add that small acts of kindness matters as much as the big ones. For several days now, I have asked people to buy me recordable DVDs, DVD+R more specifically. My father brought me DVD-R, so I was not able to use it. My DVD writer is so specific of the type of disk it burns. It only accepts DVD+RW and -RW besides +R. I asked my sister to buy for me, but the salesperson tricked her into believing that DVD+R DL would do much better than +R. I hope the salesperson was only bluffing to close a sale, not that he indeed did not know what he was talking about. Unfortunately, small shops do not know the difference and insist that all DVD writers burn every kind. I needed to transfer some large files to save me precious memories in the hard disk. I did not have any other option, but to buy the disks myself. I went then to the local department store closest to my place. It was still an hour's travel; however, I badly needed the disks.
I left at about 9:30 a.m. so I arrived quite early, at around 10:30 a.m. There were only a few people upstairs where the electronic supplies were located. Since it was still early, I ventured nearer the earthenware and decided to buy my mom ceramic soup bowls. We already had some but they were not microwaveable. I looked around and had difficulty deciding which to buy. There were too many colors and shapes besides the usual round off-white bowls. I left the display and proceeded to buy the DVD disks. I got closer to the shelf and the saleslady saw me right away. She asked me what I needed and politely started a comparison of the different recordable DVDs available. She was knowledgeable of what she was talking. She even went to the extent of recommending to me the better brands. I believed her not because she was kind enough to point them to me, but because I really knew which worked better than the others. I bought all 11 that were available of the brand I liked and she gave me the case for free. I was so happy with what she did and thanked her for the effort she extended to me.
After I paid, I went to the home furnishing section and looked for some curtains to go with what we already had in the dining area. My mom wanted brightly colored drapes with circular patterns to break the drabness of lacy whites that were already hanging there. I found some; however, I seldom open sealed products not unless a salesperson is available for permission. As I was curiously examining some of the curtains, a saleslady approached me and gamely added that she would open the sealed plastic bags for me to be able to appreciate more the length and style. I did not know that there were several ways of fastening a curtain. She offered to get some more samples, but I told her I was not very sure of the way the curtains would be fastened. I was not so familiar with the style. Instead of leaving me, she further offered to show me how it would be fixed to the curtain rod. She already knew I did not have the intention of buying anything anymore, but the effort she
extended to me, again, made me so happy. I thanked her for everything and she responded with a nice smile.
I went back to the soup bowl display and after quite sometime decided on the squarish purple bowl with a grainy black finish. I was intrigued by the contemporary design. I intended to pair them with some yellow plates I saw, but I would buy the plates later next month. My mom was complaining too that we have to get a new casserole, so I bought a stainless 20cm one. As I was lining up at the cashier's, a problem ensued when the cashier inadvertently scanned another bar code for some coffee mugs of a customer ahead of me. A saleslady offered to bring my items to another cashier. She went to two but decided that we had to look for one with only a few customers in line. We found one by the sporting goods. She left without me being able to thank her for the kindness; however, she came back after a while bringing with her some papers. She said that we needed them to cushion the ceramic soup bowls against each other or else they might be broken while traveling. She was not only kind, she was also practical and prudent. I smiled simply but my heart was so overwhelmed by the kindness I got from three simple salesladies.
Today is such a happy day for me. It has brought back my confidence on people that indeed a few are still good. There are still a few good people out there. There are still kind, patient and prudent people among us. I do not want to believe that the salesladies were doing it because of customer courtesy. No. Simply they were good because they were made to grow as one and not because they were trained to be one. They showed kindness and patience with me not because I was a customer but because I was a person. I was at first quite embarrassed by the attention I got. I was dressed casually, so it should not have been my appearance. Maybe it was they way I treated and spoke to them. In all three ladies I approached each with a smile because each deserved one after hours of standing. I got one in return from each lady and I had three nice smiles to sleep tonight. I spoke in a well-modulated voice, so it might have been the voice too. More than soft spoken, I spoke of sensible things too to all three ladies. I smiled and spoke to them softly not because I expected them to do the same to me. I did both because they deserved them as much as I did. We were actually just people interacting among each other like real people should do. I was not the customer nor were the ladies the sales persons. We were simply...persons and it made me so happy to be one.
They say it is not the big bite that hurts most. It is the smaller ones. They say also that big things come in small packages. Because of what happened today, I would add that small acts of kindness matters as much as the big ones. For several days now, I have asked people to buy me recordable DVDs, DVD+R more specifically. My father brought me DVD-R, so I was not able to use it. My DVD writer is so specific of the type of disk it burns. It only accepts DVD+RW and -RW besides +R. I asked my sister to buy for me, but the salesperson tricked her into believing that DVD+R DL would do much better than +R. I hope the salesperson was only bluffing to close a sale, not that he indeed did not know what he was talking about. Unfortunately, small shops do not know the difference and insist that all DVD writers burn every kind. I needed to transfer some large files to save me precious memories in the hard disk. I did not have any other option, but to buy the disks myself. I went then to the local department store closest to my place. It was still an hour's travel; however, I badly needed the disks.I left at about 9:30 a.m. so I arrived quite early, at around 10:30 a.m. There were only a few people upstairs where the electronic supplies were located. Since it was still early, I ventured nearer the earthenware and decided to buy my mom ceramic soup bowls. We already had some but they were not microwaveable. I looked around and had difficulty deciding which to buy. There were too many colors and shapes besides the usual round off-white bowls. I left the display and proceeded to buy the DVD disks. I got closer to the shelf and the saleslady saw me right away. She asked me what I needed and politely started a comparison of the different recordable DVDs available. She was knowledgeable of what she was talking. She even went to the extent of recommending to me the better brands. I believed her not because she was kind enough to point them to me, but because I really knew which worked better than the others. I bought all 11 that were available of the brand I liked and she gave me the case for free. I was so happy with what she did and thanked her for the effort she extended to me.After I paid, I went to the home furnishing section and looked for some curtains to go with what we already had in the dining area. My mom wanted brightly colored drapes with circular patterns to break the drabness of lacy whites that were already hanging there. I found some; however, I seldom open sealed products not unless a salesperson is available for permission. As I was curiously examining some of the curtains, a saleslady approached me and gamely added that she would open the sealed plastic bags for me to be able to appreciate more the length and style. I did not know that there were several ways of fastening a curtain. She offered to get some more samples, but I told her I was not very sure of the way the curtains would be fastened. I was not so familiar with the style. Instead of leaving me, she further offered to show me how it would be fixed to the curtain rod. She already knew I did not have the intention of buying anything anymore, but the effort she
extended to me, again, made me so happy. I thanked her for everything and she responded with a nice smile.I went back to the soup bowl display and after quite sometime decided on the squarish purple bowl with a grainy black finish. I was intrigued by the contemporary design. I intended to pair them with some yellow plates I saw, but I would buy the plates later next month. My mom was complaining too that we have to get a new casserole, so I bought a stainless 20cm one. As I was lining up at the cashier's, a problem ensued when the cashier inadvertently scanned another bar code for some coffee mugs of a customer ahead of me. A saleslady offered to bring my items to another cashier. She went to two but decided that we had to look for one with only a few customers in line. We found one by the sporting goods. She left without me being able to thank her for the kindness; however, she came back after a while bringing with her some papers. She said that we needed them to cushion the ceramic soup bowls against each other or else they might be broken while traveling. She was not only kind, she was also practical and prudent. I smiled simply but my heart was so overwhelmed by the kindness I got from three simple salesladies.
Today is such a happy day for me. It has brought back my confidence on people that indeed a few are still good. There are still a few good people out there. There are still kind, patient and prudent people among us. I do not want to believe that the salesladies were doing it because of customer courtesy. No. Simply they were good because they were made to grow as one and not because they were trained to be one. They showed kindness and patience with me not because I was a customer but because I was a person. I was at first quite embarrassed by the attention I got. I was dressed casually, so it should not have been my appearance. Maybe it was they way I treated and spoke to them. In all three ladies I approached each with a smile because each deserved one after hours of standing. I got one in return from each lady and I had three nice smiles to sleep tonight. I spoke in a well-modulated voice, so it might have been the voice too. More than soft spoken, I spoke of sensible things too to all three ladies. I smiled and spoke to them softly not because I expected them to do the same to me. I did both because they deserved them as much as I did. We were actually just people interacting among each other like real people should do. I was not the customer nor were the ladies the sales persons. We were simply...persons and it made me so happy to be one.
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