My sister is a sweetheart and one of the most loving people you will ever meet. She loves EVERYONE! If you are a good person and do good things, she will appreciate you. She doesn’t curse or raise her voice ever. However, she also doesn’t like or appreciate people mistreating others or injustices. She always speaks out.
I was at a large store with my sister. We were in line, it was a busy night, and we were several people back. The cashier had to price check something and was taking a bit longer. The cashier was a very sweet young man that had Down’s syndrome. I don’t think it was the cashier’s fault things were slow; it was a busy spurt, and it was a series of events that caused things to slow down on our register.
The man three customers back was super pissed that things were slow and decided his time was more important than being a decent human being. He angrily muttered things under his breath (which my sister refused to repeat). Then, after the second price check, he started yelling.
Customer: “COME ON! YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! CAN WE GET A REAL EMPLOYEE TO CHECK US OUT? GET THIS R****D OUT OF HERE!”
That was when my sister had enough. She left our cart in line and marched over to the employee and stood next to him behind the conveyor belt.
Sister: “You’re perfect, and don’t let mean people try to tell you otherwise.”
Then, she glared at the man, who was still yelling and cursing, now at her.
Customer: “He doesn’t need any other reason to be slow!”
My sister stared daggers into the man and bluntly told him:
Sister: “How dare you talk to someone like that? No one deserves to be talked to like that. Also, I abhor that word, ‘r****d,’ but the only one acting like that is you.”
Customer: “You can’t talk to me like that! I’m a customer!”
Sister: “I… don’t… work… here, and I don’t know him! What I do know is that you have a poor attitude and should think about how you talk to people; you don’t want to be ‘that guy.’”
I moved past everyone and stood at the end of the conveyor belt; mostly I wanted to be in between the man and my sister.
Everyone was staring at the man and backing my sister up. One guy was cheering on my sister and calling things out like:
Customer #2: “Dude, don’t be a d****e. Just shut up!”
No one moved or said anything else, so my sister continued.
Sister: “Well, as I see it, you have two choices: you can leave and go somewhere else or shut your mouth.”
At this point, a manager came up and stood next to me, looking around. The entire line was dead quiet waiting to see what the man wanted to do.
Manager: *Slowly* “Is everything okay here?”
Sister: “This man here was verbally abusing your employee.”
The manager looked pissed, but the guy was already properly shamed for his attitude, looking down, not saying anything.
My sister looked at the employee.
Sister: “Are you okay, or do you need a break?”
The manager was a little slow to catch up, but he backed up the break and even offered to take over the employee’s lane.
Employee: “I want a break, but I want to clear my line first.”
My sister refused to leave his side. I refused to move; I wanted to stay between the angry guy and my sister. The manager stood next to me and took over bagging, though he told the rest of the people in the line that the other register was now open. A few people went.
The rude guy went through the line quietly, paid, and left. He refused to look at anyone in the eyes. After he went through, my sister waved the guy that had been behind us through so we would be last. And then, we finally made our purchase.
After we finished paying, the employee came around and gave my sister the biggest hug and thanked her with tears in his eyes.
Employee: “This kind of thing happens often, but this is the first time anybody has ever stood up for me. That’s why I rarely help on register unless it’s late at night.”
Sister: “Always remember that if people are mean, it’s not your fault or your problem; it’s their problem.”
After that, the employee left to go on break while another woman who’d been in line stayed to talk to us and offered to buy our items. My sister refused the offer but happily talked to her for a few minutes.
The manager came out a few minutes later and gave us coupons and a gift card. My sister took the coupons but asked if he would give the gift card to the employee.
Honestly, I’m surprised the angry man stayed and checked out. I hope he thinks about how he talks to people in the future.
