Nanny Adventures

Today I was at my weight loss group meeting and one of the ladies brought in a beautiful vase of Lilies of the Valley.  I call this lady one of my Grandmas, since I am the youngest in the group :).  She also happens to be one of four nuns in the group.  She is part French and she was telling us that on the first of May you are to give a loved one/friend a bouquet of Lilies of the Valley for Good Luck.   So we had a little drawing for them. I was number 8 and the number called was 3…so close.  I never knew of this tradition.  I think I will adopt it for next year.

After lunch with the “grandmas” as I call them, I went to JcPenney to return the 38,000 bathing suits I bought and some outfits for my cousin’s wedding.  I had found some other options for the wedding. I was in the lingerie department, and the clerk was helping another lady find a new bra.  I was waiting in line behind a different lady and we got to chatting.  She was going to a wedding on Saturday and needed a new bra. (I know exciting-bra talk!!)  She was returning 3 and getting 3 more.  She was getting back      $26. 32 for the difference. The clerk said she didn’t have enough money in drawer. (I was ready to scream internally because we had already been waiting about 10 mins for her to finish up with the other bra lady. If I would have gone to another register it would have been a longer wait, so I stayed.) 

 The other bra lady said “How much do you need?”  

Clerk said “$26″

Bra Lady said “I am paying cash so if I can pay, then you will have the cash to give her.”

Clerk said “Ok, I will have to void this and do it after her’s, is this ok?”

The bra lady exchanging said “That works”

I am standing behind these 3 ladies laughing.  I had just returned close to $300 in clothing at a different register where people were grouchy and unfriendly. 

The clerk rings up the bra lady. While doing this the bra lady tells us all how God is good. She goes on to tell us she is 76 years old ( I was shocked! She looked maybe 50ish) and in 2002 while on vacation she discovered she had cancer.  She had a miracle surgery cure. She told us that she had very little chemo/radiation that the surgery took care of it all.  She was also leaving in a few days to go to Las Vegas for 5 days, which is why she needed a bra without underwire.  I believe she thought the underwire would trip the TSA screeners.  :)  The clerk tells the bra lady that her total is $28.62. She pulls out a twenty, five, three ones and then started looking for change. She is still telling us all how God is good among other things. She didn’t have any pennies. The other bra lady started going in her change purse for some pennies.  Everyone but myself was looking for change. I actually knew I didn’t have any pennies because I spent them the day before.  

The orginial bra lady paid for her bras with a little help from the other bra lady.  The other bra lady got her return cash from a little help from the orginial bra lady.  It was truly a Good Luck day at the counter at JcPenney with all 3 of these women.  They were fun to chat with and learn about the various events of their lives. 

The one thing during this was that there was actually a clerk in the lingerie department helping someone.  I was in 3 other sections and had people ask me if I needed help, which I didn’t.  So many stores are getting away from having numerous customer service clerks and cash registers. They seem to be going the way of pod/island like registers in various intersections of the stores.  This was the first time I experienced postive effects of this type of customer service.

Moral: Paying it forward even with two pennies really does bring Good Luck to someone.  Patience really is a virtue.