And That’s The Way The Cookie Copies

(I work in a grocery store that offers a lot of different services. I just had a terrible day the day before with the worst customer I’d had to deal with in three years. She had reduced me to tears in the back room and I had dreaded coming to work on the day of this story and was trying really hard to stay cheerful. A customer comes up when I’m alone at the counter and wants to place an inter-store order, which means I take her order and send it to another branch — in another state, in her case.)

Customer: “I need you to send it to a store in [Town].”

Me: “Okay, sure. Let me look up the store code.”

(I look in my book and in the computer and find no record of us having a store in that town. I’m already getting scared that the lady is going to yell at me.)

Me: “I’m really sorry, but all my records are showing we don’t have a store in that town. Um—”

Customer: “Now, that’s strange. Let me call my daughter.”

(It turns out the store is in a town next to the one she thought it was in, and she’s really nice about it and completely pleasant for the rest of the order. When we’re done…)

Customer: “Could you please tell me where the copy center is? I need to photocopy my ricotta cookie recipe for my grandson.”

Me: “It’s over at customer service. That sounds really good! My mom likes to bake with ricotta a lot.”

Customer: “Do you have a copier back there? You can copy it if you want.”

Me: “No, I don’t, but thank you! That’s really nice of you.”

(The lady leaves and comes back about fifteen minutes later.)

Customer: “Hey!”

(She handed me a copy of her recipe, which I knew she had to pay to make, and told me her own favorite variations on it. I almost cried. Wherever you are, nice lady, thank you for the kindness you showed to a clerk you didn’t even know. It meant way more than you think it did and I was smiling for the rest of my shift.)