SueAnn Porter

Yesterday was “one of those days.” The power went out at 1 am and didn’t come back until 9 am. I have Bailey, the faithful alarm clock, who stuck his nose in my face at 7– when I needed to wake up.

No coffee. This is not good. The coffee maker is set up the night before, so I only have to flip the switch, but with no electricity, not possible.

Thankfully Mr. Porter drove to the local store and brought back coffee.

No hot water. Cold sponge bath. Washing hair is out of the question.

I got dressed and left for work. On the way, I stopped at BJs ( discount store) to get my new membership card. But alas, the card machine was broken…

I went to work and was told I cannot merely wear my clear face covering, which allows me to breathe, but must wear a mask.

We were very busy. I awaited the arrival of our new employee to help us, only to find she had called in sick.

We then had a married couple come in, arguing the whole time. She was Russian and spoke with an accent, hard to understand through her mask. She had a car accident and needed us to print forms for the insurance company. They had a hard time sending the files to us. And they kept arguing the whole time, holding up the ever growing line of customers behind them.

Later, a new bride came in, asking us to reprint some wedding pictures. She spread her purse and other belongings across the entire front counter so that it was impossible to assist another customer in line while she searched her cell phone for wedding pics.

Then.

A customer approached the counter with voices coming out of her phone and attempted to tell me what she wanted. Obviously I had trouble hearing. I asked her if she was on the phone and she replied “It’s a conference call, but don’t worry, we are on mute, they can’t hear us.” Ugh.

But. Then. A woman came in who told me that I had helped with her resume a few weeks ago, and now she got a job, and needed to print out her “new hire” papers. She was pleasant and thankful.

She left the store and sent us an email thanking us for helping and commenting on the rude customers she witnessed that day. She also sent it to upper management.

This one person made a huge difference in my day.

Sometimes we forget that we can do something, even something small to help another person. But it can change the course of their day for the better.