Today was the worst work day I have had since I moved to Rexburg. That includes the first few days when I realized that I am quite alone in both my sense of humor and approach to situations. I also experienced the kindest gesture from a stranger since I moved here.
Not only is Saturday the busiest day of the week for Wal-Mart, but it is usually also the least staffed. Don't ask why that is because no one seems to understand it, but without fail there are several less people scheduled in each department when Saturday roles around. Today was no exception. I was scheduled in Apparel, and we were slammed like the hoop at a dunkfest.
Today I had to "zone" EVERY Apparel department. Zoning means folding, organizing, cleaning every corner of the department. I was also a reserve to cashier when the lines got long and I got called up to the front about every 15 minutes for the first six hours of my shift. Several associates cried before the day was out, including our manager who has spent the last three days as the only management due to family crisis for several other managers. I was on the edge of crying myself. Then I took my lunch break.
I had three hours of work left and I hadn't eaten in seven hours. I forgot to pack food, so I headed to Subway with the last five dollars of spending money until my next pay check. I got there just after a family of four who looked a little bedraggled themselves, led by a man with a large jagged scar over his right ear. Anyone who knows me is aware that I am NOT patient when I get hungry. Lucky for the family in front of me I was so hungry and tired that I had reached a state of apathy and stared blankly at the veggies for the almost 20 minutes it took them to get their food. Their young son's name was Cameron, and I couldn't help thinking (repeatedly) that he was not nearly as attractive or cool as MY Cameron. I was that far gone.
I ordered my footlong and started to salivate as it was wrapped. When she pulled off her gloves and got to the register she told me that the gentleman before me had left seven dollars to help pay for my sandwich. I was a little dumbfounded. My order was less than six dollars so I left the change for the girl and turned to notice that the family was still there eating. I thanked him before I walked back to the break room to eat my free food (which is usually more satisfying that food I had to pay for).
As I ate and my impatience subsided I realized what a wonderful thing had just happened. I have not had a single stranger do something like that for me since I got to Rexburg. In fact I once had a bike accident by a busy intersection and landed on my back with my bike mostly on top of me. I didn't get up right away out of shock and minor pain. Not a single person stopped. No one even rolled down their window to ask if I was ok. Its possible that the incident is on Youtube though (Stupid Girl Hits a Trash Can in Rexburg).
The family did not look well off. Yet, he had quietly left money to help pay for my food because he felt he had inconvenienced me.
He had no idea that his act of kindness was the only thing that kept me from breaking into tears and leaving work early today. God knew though. That man, whether he was aware or not, was following a prompting from Heavenly Father. It made the rest of my shift bearable and helped me to be more cheerful so I could help other people from crying. I want to be the man with the funny scar over his ear.
-Megan Elizabeth
P.S. Rexburg sucks balls.
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