It’s Like They Picked Them Off A Shelf…
I work in a grocery store that’s open twenty-four-seven. One night, a customer comes in looking a little tired and starts… organizing the shelves.
Me: “Ma’am, that’s okay. We have staff who can do that. They start at 11:00 pm.”
Customer: “I’ve had a bad day, and this calms me.”
Me: “I understand, but we have a system and…”
I stop to look, and she’s actually doing everything correctly.
Customer: “The [Brand #1] items go on this shelf, next to [Brand #2]. These flavors always go in this order, with the green ones to the left, and…”
As she continues, she shows that she has memorized the entire section of the shelves.
Me: “That… how did you know that?”
Customer: “I look at the shelving, and it calms me. When I am having a bad day, I come here and organize. Please, I need to finish.”
I silently nod, and observe as she continues, and not only does she get everything right, but everything is perfectly in a row, almost with perfect precision.
She smiles in satisfaction when she’s done, and she leaves without incident. I relay this to my manager when I see them.
Manager: “That must be our shelving fairy!”
Me: “Our shelving what now?”
Manager: “The night shift has been talking about finding whole sections of the store in perfect order, almost impossibly so. We knew someone was doing it because we’d been selling those items all day and they should be messy, but no, always in perfect order.”
Me: “And you didn’t like… check the cameras or anything?”
Manager: “I wasn’t about to go digging around about something that was helping us. I have too many other things to worry about.”
Me: “Okay? Well, anyway, what do I do if she comes back?”
Manager: “Offer her a job?”
We both laugh. The next week, I see her again, organizing the shampoos — again, perfectly.
Me: “Bad day again?”
Customer: “I keep applying for jobs, but I’m weird and no one likes me.”
Me: “Oh… that’s awful.”
Customer: “I will try again tomorrow.”
I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before. I run to go get my manager and tell him what she said. He almost runs back over!
Manager: “Waaaaaait! Do you want a job?”
The customer stands up and faces my manager, almost emotionless.
Customer: “Doing what?”
Manager: “Exactly what you’ve been doing.”
Customer: “I work nights and I don’t like people. I need Tuesdays off to play with my cats.”
Manager: “Done.”
Customer: “I will start tomorrow, but I need to finish this now.”
Manager: “No problem.”
Again, I observe as my manager rushes back and immediately begins the paperwork.
What happened next? It turns out the customer is on the spectrum (we suspected). She goes through the obligatory training, but it is immediately apparent that she doesn’t need it. Her pay is backdated a week — to the first time we noticed she was doing some work!
Her place on the spectrum is what caused her employment issues, and a social worker who works with her actually comes by the store to verify that she has, in fact, gotten a job.
The best part comes a month later when I am taking a break at the same time as her.
Customer, Now Coworker: “I’m glad I am here. It’s nice to have friends who aren’t cats.”
My heart melted. I met her cats that next Tuesday!
This story is part of the Best-Feel-Good-Stories Of-2023 roundup!
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