I worked in the photo department of a pharmacy store chain a few years ago. Our card machine randomly spat out three pamphlets for a funeral service that had been ordered about ten days prior. It was weird because our orders only stayed in the system for three days. Neither my manager nor I could not figure out how it had printed these pamphlets, but we finally shrugged and I threw them on top of our waste pile.
About an hour later, a woman came up to my counter.
Woman: *Quietly* “How long are orders stored? My brother’s funeral was last week, and I wasn’t able to get one of the pamphlets.”
I just stared at her for a second, then walked over, grabbed the mysterious pamphlets, and placed them in front of her. They were for her brother’s funeral.
Me: “Our machine randomly printed these three copies out for no reason.”
The woman started crying.
Woman: “How much do I owe you?”
I just laughed.
Me: “We don’t charge for acts of God.”
It was the only explanation I could come up with.
I was once in a children’s museum with my niece. There was some kind of climbing structure she was old enough for, but her little legs were so short that she had trouble navigating. A sweet boy a couple of years older helped her through and disappeared before I could thank him.
I saw him again later with his family in a different part of the museum and went over to his mom.
Me: “Your son was so…”
She got this look on her face like her son was frequently a troublemaker and she was used to getting complaints. When I continued to explain how sweet and helpful he had been, she was so relieved and then grateful that I had come over to thank them.
It doesn’t take much to brighten someone’s day.
As a kid, whenever I went to a sit-down restaurant that offered lemonade, I always asked if they had any strawberry lemonade. I loved strawberry lemonade but never got it at home.
I’m at a restaurant with my family and the waitress is taking our drink orders.
Waitress: “How about you?”
Me: “Do you have strawberry lemonade?”
Waitress: “I’m sorry, we don’t.”
Me: “That’s okay. I’ll have a Sprite, please.”
When she comes back with our drink order, she saves mine for last.
Waitress: “Guess what? I found some strawberry flavoring in the kitchen!”
She plunked down a strawberry lemonade in front of me. It tasted amazing. It’s been over a decade since then, but I still smile at her doing something she absolutely didn’t have to just to make a kid smile.
I had to go into the shops this morning to get a few things. I thought my (almost) eleven-month-old would be all right, and she was for about 90% of the time. But it took me longer to find what I needed and she was due a nap and a feed. I was rushing to the checkout… and it happened.
She entered into a full-blown meltdown. She was grabbing at me to pick her up. I was panicking, trying to calm her down and scan my things. People were looking and I was getting more stressed. My assistance dog was nudging me, alerting me to an anxiety attack coming.
Enter two staff members. One came over and started talking to my kiddo and singing her a song. But she wasn’t having a bar of it.
Employee #1: “Can I pick her up?”
Me: “Yes!”
She picked my kid up and started walking around and saying hello to people. The other staff member started helping me scan my stuff as quickly as possible. When that was done, the one holding my kid offered to help me get out to my car and stuff.
They were amazing.
A few years back, I purchased a shoulder dragon plush from a convention vendor and almost immediately lost it. I retraced my steps and still couldn’t find it.
I finally went back to the vendor to explain what happened with little to no hope that they would be able to do anything.
Vendor: “Can you describe it?”
When I did, they whipped it out from behind their counter.
Vendor: “Someone dressed up as a Deadpool Eternal Sailor Moon cross-play turned it in to us in hopes that the owner would come back!”
Of course, I thanked the vendors profusely. I looked everywhere for the Eternal Sailor Moon Deadpool but never found them to give my thanks.
