By Lois Hewitt

A lot of my adult life has been spent working in offices. But many times I worked second or third jobs as my spending was out of control.  Most of those extra jobs were in retail or restaurants.  I never gave much thought to the purpose of those jobs until yesterday…

I had to pick up a prescription at my local CVS yesterday.  I had been putting off going as I get anxious in that parking lot because it’s so busy. Sure enough I got cut off and yelled at for trying to find a parking space while annoying the person honking at me.

I finally park and go inside.  I’m praying I have enough money to pay.  The store is very busy. I get to the pharmacy and the line is long. So I wait.

My turn comes and I see a young girl heading my way and I actually see her body get rigid as she sees me.  All of a sudden her guard is up.  I give her my information. She gets my prescription and I count out my singles and pay (I had enough!).

When I left I thanked her for her help and you could tell she relaxed. She even smiled at me.

When I got home, I thought about that encounter and just shrugged it off.  I was scrolling through some reels on my phone and came across several “Karen” videos. It hit me.  I look like one of those women.  The young girl probably thought I was going to start something and act all entitled.

I have had women (I’m sorry to say this is true a lot of the time) get up on me and yell at me and totally disregard me.  I have had a couple put their hands on me to push me out of the way.  I have been called stupid and had my life choices questioned.  I don’t have statistics but I can guess any one in customer service has had the same experiences.  It is very sad.

I learned a few things from this encounter;
1.  My retail experiences created great empathy in me for those people working in customer service. No experience is wasted.
2.  Even if you are annoyed, it’s important to stay calm and not yell at the person in front of you who does not make the rules.
3. We still judge people by their looks. I may have made assumptions about the clerk’s blue hair and facial piercings.  And she judged me by my looks.
4.  Everyone has feelings. No matter how strong you are, they can get hurt.  Words can hurt bad!
5.  We all (including myself) can do better. Be better.
6.  Most importantly, if you are a Christian, remember the world is watching how we act.  Jesus commands us to love one another.  If more people did that, society would begin to heal.

So from today on, I will try to be a better person.  Our world needs that!