Monthly Archives: July 2010

Work Grandpas*

Posted on July 27, 2010 by Shop Girl| 3 Comments

(via: http://hullstudent.com/files/minisites/2288/old_people.jpg)

Confession: I have a soft spot for little old men.

I always have–there’s just something about a grandpa (in my family we call our grandpas “Gumpo”) that warms my heart like no other. Don’t get me wrong, I have the most wonderful grammys in the world–including my 94 year old Grammy who is the cutest person EVER and has more of a social life than I do–but I find myself trying to collect grandpas all over the place.

I have church grandpas, school grandpas and work grandpas, to name a few.

My work grandpas are really what get me through the day at my crap part-time job. They come in, are friendly and funny and do what they can to brighten my day without even knowing the effect they have. Sometimes they make cute comments and connections to my real name (which is of a European origin)– I’ve heard some hilarious stories of women they knew in their youth who also had my name. They chat about the weather, their grandkids, what’s on sale and the state of affairs in the world.

My favourite visits of the day are always with my work grandpas.

As little old men in the store almost always brighten my day, I always try and go that extra mile for them while we chat. I usually tell them about our best deals, am extra friendly at the register and even bag their groceries for them as they leave. One of my favourite grandpas always harassed me about why I worked where I work after learning that I had a university education. When I explained the current job market for teachers in Ontario he went on a big lovely rant about how those hiring guys didn’t know what they were missing. Every week when we came in he asked me if I had been able to find a teaching job yet–and when I finally answered YES he did a little dance and cheered.

I love my work grandpas.

Yesterday I think I found a new work grandpa, and he may be the cutest of all.

I began my shift at 11am and quickly got to work. Not long after I started a little old man came up to the register to check out. We chatted for a minute while I completed his order, then he gave me a big friendly smile and waved as he hurried out the door. I started serving the next customer when I noticed a black wallet sitting on the counter. I asked the woman I was helping if it belonged to her, and when she shook her head I knew it had to belong to the gentleman I had just served. I waved to a coworker to come take over for me and I rushed out the door.

After a quick scan of the parking lot I saw him at the opposite end of the plaza. I took off running and caught up with him just as he was about to enter another store. I called out to him a few times (I think he must have been a bit hard of hearing) and finally he turned around.

Me: “Excuse me sir, is this your wallet?”

Old Man: (patting his pocket) “Oh my goodness! It is! Did I leave it with you?”

Me: “I found it on my counter and thought you might be missing it.”

Old Man: “And you ran all the way here? Why, thank you miss. I never leave it, I must be getting old!”

Me: “Not a problem–it was my pleasure.”

Old Man: “Thank you again, not many people would have done that. I really appreciate it.”

I slowly walked back to my store, feeling good about my good deed of the day. As soon as I got back a whirlwind of customers blew in threw the doors and I completely forgot about it.

Sometime around 4:30pm I was very ready to be done my shift. As I hauled boxes from a cart I heard the front door open and I turned around. There was my old man friend, beckoning me to come over. He had his wallet in hand.

Old Man: “After you brought my wallet back to me this morning, I couldn’t stop thinking about what a nice thing it was that you did.”

Me: “Really, it wasn’t any trouble. I’m just glad that I caught you!”

Old Man: “I went home, but I just had to come back to thank you again.”

(He began pulling money from his wallet and held it in my direction.)

Old Man: “Please, I wanted to give you something to say thank you.”

Me: “Oh goodness sir, you don’t have to do that! I was happy to be able to help.”

He stood there for a minute, befuddled that I didn’t take the money. After trying one last time he tucked it back in his wallet, gave me a small grateful smile and thanked me one last time before going out the door. He couldn’t believe that I wouldn’t accept the money for a bit of service I was happy to give, and I can’t believe that he came back so many hours later to thank me again.

Small moments, right?

Thank goodness for work grandpas. :)

Posted in My thoughts*

Penny For Your Thoughts*

Posted on July 23, 2010 by Shop Girl| 5 Comments

(via: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/77/209309109_ab8e771168.jpg)

I was blown away by the response I got to my last post. It may not look like I got many comments on the post itself, but I couldn’t believe all the people that contacted me through Facebook to let me know that the post had touched them, and, in many cases, brought them to tears. I’m glad that the small moment that moved me moved so many of you too.

In other news, I did not have any lovely moments today. There must be something in the water here in Pretty City, because every. single. person I dealt with today was all kinds of awful. Seriously. I feel bad for saying that as I like to try and find the good in people, but I don’t know what it was… my coworkers even felt the same way.

Sun Girl actually wrote a post that touched on this yesterday, and I thought about it a lot while I worked today. And as I was going through all these transactions, I couldn’t help but compare them to how I usually shop…

I arrive at the checkout. Realistically, I’m not always going to be first in the line at a cash register, so if there are people in front of me, what’s the use of complaining? By the time I get to the front I am completely done my shopping, and am prepared to cash out with my wallet in hand.

Me: Hi there. (with a smile)

Cashier: Hello, how are you? Did you find everything you were looking for?

Me: Yes, thank you.

Cashier: Excellent. The total is *blank*.

Me: Okay, thanks.

I pull some form of payment out of my wallet, which I have ready in my hand. If there is no one behind me, I might try and find the exact change, but only if it’s easily found and doesn’t require me to dump my entire change purse onto the counter, which I feel is a bit tacky. If the store is busy, I happily accept the change. Having three more pennies in my wallet isn’t going to ruin my day.

Cashier: Here’s your change! Thanks, and have a nice day.

Me: Thank you, you too!

At this point I quickly collect my things and move out of the way for the next customer.

My whole goal is to try and act in a way and treat people in the way I like to be treated myself. I always think, if I am friendly and courteous with someone, there is a much higher chance that they’ll be the same with me, right?

WRONG. Well, at least where I work. Here’s a typical transaction when I work on cash:

Customer arrives at the counter, upset that a) we didn’t have what they wanted; or b) that they had to wait two minutes for the person in front of them to cash out. They give me an angry look and dump the entire contents of their basket in a messy pile on the counter.

Me: Hi there, how are you?

Customer: Fine.

Me: Did you find everything you were looking for?

Customer: (no answer)

Me: …okay, the total is *blank*.

Customer: What? Why is it so much?

**Note: People rarely spend more than $25 in my store.

Me: (going through each item on their receipt) Well, this costs this much, and this costs that much, etc etc.

The lineup is now growing and I buzz for a second cashier to join me.

Customer: Fine. (Begins rooting around in their bag or purse for their wallet.)

Me: Did you need to purchase a bag today, or would you like to take a box?

Customer: You charge for bags?? HIGHWAY ROBBERY. I thought you couldn’t charge for bags here!

Me: I’m so sorry, we do charge 5 cents for plastic bags here, but we do offer free boxes as well as an alternative.

Customer: (Grumbling) I’m not paying for that. I can’t believe YOU’D do that.

(Meaning ME. Personally. As if I make all the major decisions for the store.)

Me: I’m sorry, but I don’t make store policies, I just have to follow them. (with a smile, trying to make friends)

Customer: Whatever. What’s the total again?

Customers still in the line-up are becoming increasingly agitated and are now vocalizing their unhappiness. Then I hear the clanging of the entire contents of a change purse dumping on to my counter. I can see that they have larger bills in their wallet, but instead they count out $10.93 in their small change because they don’t want more change and refuse to take any pennies. It doesn’t matter that there are 10 people behind them in the line-up. If they don’t have the exact change, they try and get me to ignore a few cents to prevent any pennies from entering their wallet. When I refuse to let them pay anything less than the full amount, they get angry and try again to piece together the exact change from the pile of silver and copped spilled across my counter. Then, instead of handing it to me, they push it across the counter for me to pick up.

Me: Thank you. Here’s your receipt, have a nice day.

They then begin to bag / box their groceries, taking up half the counter, as I begin the process allllll over again with a new customer who talks at me and not to me. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Isn’t that lovely?

I usually come home so exhausted and exasperated that it takes me a half hour to let the day roll off my shoulders.

It’s not pretty.

I really don’t understand it through… I know that sometimes external factors cause people to be the way they are in certain moments, but an entire day of it? I try so hard to be kind and nice, and I have it shoved back in my face over what, pennies?

And what’s the big deal with pennies anyway? Sure, they aren’t my favourite thing, but I would never go to the lengths I see every day to avoid them. People get MEAN over pennies. When I do get them I take them home, throw them in my big penny jar and save them for a rainy day. No harm done.

Maybe I missed the memo about the anti-penny movement.

Are you anti or pro pennies?

Posted in Complaining about something*

As Time Goes By*

Posted on July 21, 2010 by Shop Girl| 11 Comments

(via: http://s3.images.com/huge.75.378650.JPG)

It’s no secret that I generally dislike my crap part-time job. As soon as I have completed my last shift and have run out the door laughing I’ll fully explain why, but until then just know that it’s just not usually a terribly lovely place to work.

But every once in a while something happens that makes me grateful that I was there in that moment.

Today I had such a moment. In the midst of a crazy hectic shift where I had nearly lost all faith in humanity and was convinced that there was a sign somewhere outside the door that read “We don’t like manners in here! Come on in and be RUDE! We looooooove rude! And mean! WOO”.

Seriously. People were just not happy today. Which makes me not happy. And I don’t like that.

And then this little old man came in. He poked around the store for a while before finally bringing up his cart to the front. He had a random collection of items and spent no more than 12 dollars. When he came up, quietly smiled and said “Hello”, I was seriously taken aback. (Someone talking TO me and not AT me? Whoa. Progress!)

I decided to forget allllllll the meanness I had just encountered and poured all the goodness I had left in me into making his stay at my store a pleasant one. As I was helping him put his things into a box, he softly said, “This is my first time shopping, you know.”

I took that to mean that it was his first time shopping in my store, so I laughed a little and congratulated him on finding the best things in the store to buy on his first visit.

He looked up at me, gave me a small, sad smile and said, “Thank you… my wife usually did all the shopping. She just passed away and this is my first time.”

My heart lurched into my throat and I choked out my apologies for his loss as he continued, looking at his wedding band: “We were married for 67 years. She was my best friend.”

Then this wonderful man who had just lost the love of his life began to cry at my cash register. It was every thing I could do to not run around the counter and hug him… but he smiled through his tears, gave me a little wave and hurried out the door.

The customer behind him was already throwing her items at me before I could do anything more, and I nearly forgot about it until a few minutes ago when this song came on my random iTunes shuffle:

I’m so thankful that I had that one, small moment today to catch a glimpse of real, life-long love and remember that there are still good people in the world. I just hope that was I able to offer a small bit of kindness to him as he goes through this difficult time.

Not that I’m rushing old age, but I honestly can’t wait to grow old with the Hubster. He is my best friend and the love of my life. (and we do our grocery shopping together.)

Where there is love, there is life*

Five years down, sixty-two to go. :)

Posted in My thoughts*

My Ex-Wife’s Wedding Dress & My Favourite Bathroom Prank*

Posted on July 19, 2010 by Shop Girl| 4 Comments

After a very long hiatus, I’ve decided I’m going to try and start up my Shop Girl Shares posts again every Monday. There are simply too many good things out there that I’m dying to share with you. Capiche?

1) My Ex-Wife’s Wedding Dress

(via: http://myexwifesweddingdress.com/)

Meet Kevin. Last year Kevin’s marriage ended and his wife of 12 years packed up her things and moved out, leaving only one thing behind on her side of the closet: her wedding dress. Kevin asked her what he should do with it, and her response was “whatever the (*insert explicative here*) you want.”

…so he did.

He’s now taken on the task of trying to find 101 uses for the dress, like flossing, a hammock, kitty little liner, and above (my favourite) the scarecrow. It’s his own form of therapy as he deals with the divorce, and as she wanted absolutely nothing to do with the dress, I think it’s absolutely hilarious. He’s actually quite creative–who knew a wedding dress was good for so many things? ;)

2) Funny Bathroom Prank

I don’t even know if this video needs an introduction… it’s quite possibly the BEST bathroom prank that I have ever seen. I already had a fear of port-a-pottys before seeing this, and now I don’t think I could ever use one… I mean, if they have the teleportation abilities, then that’s just too much for me… hahaha

AMAZING. How confused would you be?!?! Haha!

Until next week, lovelies!

Posted in Shop Girl Shares*

On Being Thrifty*

Posted on July 17, 2010 by Shop Girl| 7 Comments

(via: http://budgetlexicon.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/thrift-store.jpg)

One of my favourite parts of this whole blogging thing is I feel like I get to be a part of this super cool group of amazing women who inspire me in so many ways. I have long been an admirer of Kyla–she was one of my early features last fall when I was doing my Shop Girl Shares segments every Monday. One of the challenges she has taken on for herself this summer is to find six new summer dresses to add to her wardrobe. She’s found three so far, and the next three she wants to find in thrift stores.

I’ve long been intrigued by the idea of thrift store shopping. Really, when I think about it, in a way I’ve already been doing it for most of my life. One of the benefits of having older sisters is that there are always great big bags of hand-me-down clothes coming my way. Peeah is a great lover of clothes and often changes her “look” so a few times a year she’ll call me up and offer me a couple of bags of clothes to sift through. I never take it all, but there is usually a handful of gems that I have had my eye on that eventually make it my way.

One of the things I’ve really been trying to add to my wardrobe in the past year is dresses. Not just summer dresses, but dresses in general. Two years ago I ransacked my closet for clothes for a formal event and I realized that I owned only one dress. ONE dress. How is that even possible? I’ve slowly been finding ones I love–in the past two years I’ve gone from one dress to six, but I’m still looking. My new goal is to find comfy, stylish every day dresses that I could wear for teaching.

I always look for them in stores when I shop, but they are always a) too short; b) too expensive; or c) too… “I’m going to the bar to pick up”-ish. So when I saw that Kyla was on the hunt in thrift stores I thought, why not? There are two that I know of in Pretty City, and I was pretty disappointed with the first one. It really wasn’t organized very well, but I did find an adorable tan peasant-style skirt for $5! I took it home, washed it up and I’m really quite happy with it.

Next stop was Value Village. I remember going to Value Village a few times as a teenager, but it’s been a lonnnng time since. I took my time in the store, perused through the aisles and was actually really excited by a few of the things I found. There was one dress that I fell in LOVE with, but it was one size too small. So, I did what any self-respecting woman would do: I turned to shoes.

I didn’t really expect to find anything, but then one pair jumped off the shelf into my arms and begged me to take them home with me. I found Nine West black leather pumps (a staple for any woman’s closet) for $10!! Seriously. How could I possibly leave them there?

Love. Aside from a little wear on the heels and a touch on the toe that I can easily polish, they look brand new and I am SO excited. Who knew I could find such fabulous shoes at a thrift store?

Now I know there is a bit of a stigma attached to thrift stores for a lot of people… you know, the whole wearing clothes that someone else owned / not knowing where it came from bit.

How do you feel about thrift store shopping?