This Is Why I Do It

Yesterday, just as I was leaving the card store, a little old lady walked up to me and asked, "Are you the manager?" I said that I was, at least for now. I asked how I could help her and she began with the story. "I was here in September," she said, "and I bought this item for a friend who's birthday is October 20. But, she passed away on October 12, and I just found it. I don't know if there's anything you can do, but I wanted to see about exchanging it. It's difficult for me to get down here, and I was here last night, because I thought you closed at 9, but you were already closed when I got here at 7." I told her that we did indeed close at 6 on Sundays, but that I would see what we could do for her. I looked at what she bought, a 2009 Zodiac calendar for Libra. Since it was a very specific gift and it would probably be difficult to find someone else to give it to, I told her that I would take it back, and issue a store credit. Especially since she had the receipt and everything was in order. She was so happy, and told me how nice I was and how sorry she was for holding me up. She knew I was trying to get home, and didn't want to be a bother. I kept assuring her that I would stay until she was happy with her purchase. She went and picked out a few Valentine's gifts that were 75% off, and ended up spending all of the credit she was getting, plus $10. She told me that she knew someone who was getting married in August, and that these things would make great gifts for them. I almost said (but didn't) that I hope they didn't pass away in July. Funny? To me. Probably not to her. So, I bit my tongue.

I got to Journal Square last night to get on the bus to UPS. As I'm standing there waiting for the bus, I hear, "Come on people, pile in. Over here! Let's go!" I look over and see Vinny, one of the Full Time supervisors at UPS motioning everyone toward him. My first thought was this is like seeing your 5th grade teacher at the supermarket. It just shouldn't happen. As it turns out, the buses weren't running on account of President's Day. We worked tho, so UPS provided a way out there. It was a caravan of supervisors' personal cars. It was sort of odd, but it was probably the quickest I've ever gone from Journal Square to Secaucus. The night ended up being pretty light, too. We were completely done by 3:00. Usually, it can be closer to 4:30 or 5, but apparently it wasn't just the bus company that had a holiday yesterday.