Bad Hair Days

Anyone who knows me knows that the curliness of my hair is directly proportionate to how tired I am. For the past week its been sort of Einsteinian or Mad Hatterish. One of the regulars at my work came in on Friday. He's an older, portly man with his spectacles hanging around his neck and always wearing a suit over a bright sweater-vest. His hair is white and his eyes twinkle. He's an older professor type - always laughing and making witty jokes; he remembers my name because when he was young, his first girlfriend had the same name. Its an unusual name.

"Hello? Oh!" He said when I popped up behind the desk. I had been trying to clean out the space behind the garbage bin to keep myself awake. He smiled, but his eyes looked from me to my hair - almost a separate being at that point. His voice changed to a fatherly tone. "Are you alright, M.G.?"

"Eh?" I was a bit wide-eyed and weary, being kept awake by two energy drinks and a coffee; almost at an internal comatose. "Sure I am. Just tired."

"You don't look like yourself," He said in a concerned way. Upon leaving my store he smiled kindly and told me to take care of myself. He was also the one who once told me that I was worth more than any precious jewel after hearing that I was having man-problems.

It's hard to say bluntly that working retail is hard. It's not the hardest job out there, but sometimes it just plain sucks. Often, we focus so much on the bad things that we no longer see the good. Many people working in retail will tell you they dislike or even hate their job; being treated poorly by customers, getting yelled at for things you have nothing to do with.

"So the government raised the taxes and you have to pay more now? I'm so sorry about that. I guess I shouldn't have suggested it when I visited Parliament last month. I'll just get that fixed right now. Do you know the Prime Minister's cell number? It got smudged when I wrote it on my hand."

You learn to take it in stride eventually, but some days are harder to take than others. If you're tired and sick or dealing with drama at home, and some middle-aged woman wants you to read something because she "forgot her glasses", you're more inclined to scream and throw it at her than read the price out.

And then you have days like Friday, when someone lifts your mood and brightens the last few hours of your shift. Whether its virtual stranger who cares enough to learn your name and tell you you're a good person, or someone who laughs and makes you smile with their sunny outlook. Those things can make you appreciate what you've done in life - after all, it brought you to that tiny glimmering moment. Life is a long and difficult path and for many of us, working casts shadows where there needn't be any. But isn't it lovely when something comes along and twinkles in the darkness?

After so many unpleasant encounters, I love to have even one that gives a boost to my faith in mankind, and I'm lucky enough to recognize these moments when I see them. I may spend most days with my head up in the clouds, escaping the world, but it only takes one small act of humanity to bring me back down and make me appreciate this life.



Feeling optimistic.
Tired as Hell.
M.G.