Changing Someone's Day?

We live each day sometimes without thinking about who we touched or possibly had some affect upon. I know I do. Do I live my life trying to make those around me feel better, more comfortable, or are they glad to see me leave because I make them unhappy? This is a question constantly on my mine about my travels through this life.

I am getting a little too deep for me, so I will get down to last Saturday and some errands and two events that followed each other in quick succession. Karen and I had decided on a lazy weekend and I have a movie pass from Blockbuster and can take out 2 movies at a time, anytime. I got two movies Friday am and we watched them and now I was back for two more. I did this first as I had some groceries to get at Foodworld and it was hot and I did not want the perishables to spoil in this hot August weather. The Blockbuster stop was fine with no incidents but Foodworld was my first encounter I wanted to share with you the reader.

I had only a few things to get and I only took a basket from up front and did my shopping and was now in the checkout line. The checker was someone I knew and Ron the store manager came up and told her to take care as I was his "Zeigler man". She checked me out with no incident yet we talked as she worked. Karen wanted something special I could not find and I had a $3.00 coupon on it and this coupon, this search leads to the first encounter in my story.

There was a young lady behind me and she was very pretty, dark hair and eyes, a somewhat round or cupid face that I found enchanting. The beautiful part about being 67 years old and young women, they know I am not flirting with them. I don't know if this good or bad on my part? But....We started talking and I noticed she was not smiling or did not appear happy for some reason. She said her car, her older Jeep Cherokee was giving her some trouble and she took it in for repair that she was told was minor and would take less than an hour. You are ahead of me,,,as she said, "I waited over 3 hours and the bill was almost 3 times what they told me but it had to be fixed as it is my only transportation!"

I understood totally where she was coming from as this unfortunately happens to all of us at sometime or another. The checker returned shortly with my elusive item and she finished checking me out. I told the young lady that it was good to talk to her and wished her the best with her car. I then asked her if she had a Foodworld discount card? She said "No". I ask the checker if she would scan my card so this young lady who needed a little help, could now get any discount only available with the Foodworld discount card. The checker smiled at me and told me this would be fine...Saying "This is your daughter, is she not?"...I of course said "Yes".

I told everyone goodbye and soon had all my groceries loaded in the trunk of my car. As I was walking around to get in, the young lady I had helped was returning her buggy and she said..."Thank you Mr. Nutter, you saved me over $2.00 on my groceries and Ron the store manager bagged my groceries and he said to the checker, "I want to give her the 2 liter Pepsi "free"! Ron apparently had overheard part of my conversation with this young lady and this was his way of helping her too.
The young lady had asked Ron my name and who I worked for. She thanked me for helping her in this so very small way and she turned and "smiled" as she got in her Jeep, the smile that was missing just minutes ago. You never know!

I said earlier this was a lazy weekend for us so I called Karen if a McDonald's Quarter pounder and fries would be to her liking. I learned this comes on a sesame seed bun and if you ask for a plain top bun, they have to fix this "fresh" off the grill for you...I was third in line and a young lady was having great difficulty with a customer whose order was late, but not her fault, and she was getting the blunt of his ire and shortly bringing the manager into the fray. By the time she got to me, she was truly flustered and I could see beads of sweat on the edge of her forehead and her lips were trembling.

She took my order and while it was being prepared I shared something with her and wrote it on the back of my business card as I told her this secret someone shared with me too many years ago....The back of the card read "I DO NOT GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO MAKE ME UNHAPPY!" I saw no one was behind me and I explained how a psychology professor shared this with me decades ago. I told her as he said "your own happiness is within and you must never give anyone permission to change how you feel about yourself. That is giving someone else power over your life and this you must never let happy, ever!"...She took the card and I told her to put it somewhere (as I did) and read it, and reread it, and reread it, until it is part of your life. She said she would.

I fixed my drinks to take home and as I walked across to the door, I looked back and a young lady was looking at me...Smiling! Thanks for putting me in the path of these two young ladies last week that maybe, only maybe, I made a little positive change in their life or possibly gave one the tools to possibly take control of her emotional life...Jeff