Joe

My second post (yet my first in regards to talking about the various people that have helped change my life), I dedicate to the first customer I ever really got to know on a first name basis: Joe.
I required the use of a simple title for a simple relationship; the one between Joe and me.  I first met Joe when I had been working at Smart & Final for about 2 months.  Smart & Final is a business friendly market, meaning the majority of our customers are business owners that shop there because of the great benefits we have to offer them on sales taxes.  Joe is one of them, the owner of a Mexican restaurant in Whittier.
When I began my job, I wasn't a cashier.  I was a service clerk, which is a fancy title for someone who gets carts, does carry-outs (helps people take their groceries to their car), cleans up messes, and stocks the shelves.  Basically, I was the water boy of a functioning grocery store.
On a hot September day in 2012, I was pushing a particularly excruciating chain of carts through the parking lot when I saw Joe pull in.  He got out of his car and started talking to me.  He asked my name, when I had started working at Smart & Final, and where I went to school--little details that most people never bother to learn about a person if they have the option of keeping a safe distance from them instead.
 I remember how shocked I was when answering these questions.  No stranger had ever taken such an interest in me or my adolescent life before.  It made me feel uncomfortable; not in a bad or creepy way, though.  Simply in the way of how strange it felt to experience a courtesy like this.  Previously, I had spent my life surrounded by kids, who don't exactly tend to be the most polite.  I appreciate Joe more than any of my other regular customers who have become such a crucial part of my life, because he introduced me to a kinder side of life.  He made me feel important, mature, and (most importantly for a girl at the age of 17) adult.
Joe and I are no longer on a first name basis; instead, I am known as "mija" or "sweetie," and he is always greeted with a grin and an exclamation.  On my worst days, seeing Joe can still make me light up and feel at ease.  We aren't very close; I've never seen him outside of an employee/customer environment, and I don't know anything deeply personal about his life.  However, I think the simplicity of our relationship highlights the point that my blog is trying to make: it doesn't take much to make a person happy.  You don't have to move milestones to make someone smile.  All you have to do is show them something they have never seen before.  Show them kindness and love, and they will reflect it upon you.

After all, in the end we're all just doing the same thing here...

Random acts of kindness.  Spreading good cheer.  Treating others the way you wish to be treated. 

Somehow in our world today, phrases like these are looked down upon as flaw in character.  According to our societal rules, in order to be powerful, you must be heartless, selfish, and cold.  You must stop at nothing to get what you want.  You shouldn't care about what happens to those who get caught in the crossfire of your journey to success; in fact, if you do care, you're weak.  You're spineless.  You'll never make a difference in this world; you'll never truly matter.  My question is, how did we reach this point?  How did manipulation, deceit, and just downright callousness become the best way to succeed in your career and life?  When did being kind become such a handicap?  

Here are a few facts about me.  I used to think this way as well--that pushing your way to the top without regard for others is the only way to get there.  It is just the lens that we as humans use to see the world today with.  However, (believe it or not) being a cashier at a market saved me.  Doesn't sound very glamorous, right? 

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to write and/or edit for Vogue magazine.  I always assumed in order to achieve this goal, I needed to be driven, assiduous, and ruthless.  I was right about two of those, but working at Smart & Final has shown me that I don't want to be ruthless to achieve my goals.  I want to be caring and helpful, along with driven and assiduous.  More importantly, I want to try and make the world (or at least those of you who have stumbled across this blog) to see that the word kindhearted is not synonymous with weak-willed.

You may be wondering how working at a market has taught me so much about life.  Well, it's not necessarily the job itself that has taught me anything at all; it's the people.  On my first day at Smart & Final, one of my coworkers said something to me that would remain in my mind to this day.  He said to me, "Here's what you need to know about this job: everyone has to eat."  In other words: rich or poor, fat or skinny, tall or short, everyone buys groceries.  

He was 100% correct.  I have been working as a cashier at Smart & Final for almost 2 years now, and I have seen just about everything there is to see.  I've seen a man cuss out a coworker of mine for not giving him the correct change; I've seen types of Botox I never even thought were possible; I've seen thieves and liars getting caught in their act.  However, the constant thing I have seen that means the most to me is the amount of unconditional acceptance that people can have for one another.  I am not a person who is happy and smiling all the time; I'm not one to overwhelm anyone with my seemingly endless good cheer.  I have as much negativity and anger in me as the next person; the difference is that I would like to change that.  My goal in this blog is to bring to attention the acts of kindness I see in my every day life in and out of work, simply to show people that it still exists, and it is absolutely the most powerful force in the world.  I want to give hope to anyone I can that there are other ways to make a name for yourself.  I encourage anyone with a story of their own to type it out and send it in to me, so I can bring those to attention as well.  All of my stories are 100% the truth, and are intended to be read with a smile.  Happy reading.