Patience

It was like any other normal day at work. I was making my rounds, walking the sales floor and checking in on my sales team.  As I went from one department to another I saw a lady in a wheel chair browsing the racks, alone. I didn’t think anything of it at first until I made a second stop into that same department and noticed that the sales associates were not approaching her to offer her assistance or help in finding something for her. I knew that it wasn’t out of their lack of knowledge on the product or their speaking capabilities; it was their lack of comfort and confidence in communicating.

I approached the lady in the wheelchair, I smiled, and I asked her if she needed help finding something. As she moved her purse to uncover her keyboard, I realized she could not speak. She began to type something for me, quite slowly, and I glanced over her shoulder to read the screen on her keyboard and it read, “I need  top for brown pants.” I looked at her smiled and said, “ok.”

I started to glance through the racks and asked her to wait for me, and at that moment two of the sales associates approached me and offered to help me look for whatever it was I was searching for then. For a second, I thought of reprimanding them and asking them, “Why didn’t you offer to help her yourself?” I didn’t. I quickly held back my emotions, and took it as an opportunity to teach.

One by one I held blouses up to our customer to get her opinion. After the fifth blouse we knew that she was a size medium, and wanted either beige or white, and something with sleeves. A few blouses in I had picked up on her facial expressions and was able to save her the trouble of having to type “yes” or “no.” Finally we narrowed it down to two tops that she was somewhat happy with, and asked me to check prices for her. She then typed, “Follow me” and I did as we made our way towards the other end of the floor where she had obviously shopped earlier because she knew where everything was.

Forty-five minutes later we had arrived at the cash register. She had some coupons she wanted to use, and I was amused at her sense of humor when she tried to bargain with me on the prices and discounts. We both laughed out loud through the process, as I gave her the best deal possible on the short sleeve, beige sequenced blouse. She had a bag hanging on her wheel chair, which I placed her purchase into. Once I was done ringing her purchase, I took out a business card and showed her my name and pronounced it for her and told her to come back and look for me if she ever needed anything. Although, you could not notice it on her lips, I could see the smile in her eyes…and it made my heart smile.

She took out her keyboard once more and typed, “You are so patient.”

Tears began to gather in my eyes and I quickly tried to hold them back for I did not want her to see me cry, I did not want her to think I pitied her or felt sorry for her. I enjoyed helping her. We made our way to the exit, and I once more bent down and looked her in the eyes and told her “goodbye, be safe and come see me again,” as I patted her on her shoulder. And just like that she rode away in her wheel chair into the cold Santa Monica air.

A few days ago I wrote down a quote in my journal, “A good deed is one that puts a smile on someone else’s face, not your own.” I can’t quite remember what triggered me to write that, but I do now.  

I was not the Good Samaritan in this case, she was…I needed inspiration and she gave it to me, all I did in return was my job.

On my ride home yesterday I wanted to come home and write about this experience, but instead I dwelled on it a bit through the night and morning. I was ashamed of myself when I started typing because I didn’t know what terms were politically correct when referring to someone who has a physical disability. My customer was clearly not mentally challenged, for what I saw was someone who could communicate much better and comfortably than my own sales associates. I would like to think that at some point in her life she enjoyed the same physical abilities that I do today.

When the customer had left and I made my rounds again on the sales floor a few of the associates stopped me to ask me how the experience all went, I told them exactly what I have written here—the customer left happy.

I recently read a book, “Mandela’s Way,” and one of the chapters is titled “Lead from the Front.” I did just that last night, when I took the initiative to help the customer on my own, I wanted my associates to see just how easy it is to communicate with people, if you only try…if you just put aside all your differences and fears…smile, make eye contact and be patient.

I can still hear the joy in my customer’s laugh, I shall think of her whenever I need inspiration and a reminder that life is only as difficult as you make it.

--JJ