I thought I had lucked out when I found a line with only one person ahead of me. I began placing my items on the conveyor, ready to get through quickly. But when I looked up, I noticed the person in front of me was an elderly woman. She was paying for her things with change, wanting to purchase each item separately.
Part of me, the part worn down from a long day at work, the part juggling a 1 ½ year old having a meltdown in the cart, and the part trying to stick to my own unnecessary timeline, felt frustrated. I saw her as an inconvenience.
But then I noticed the young employee helping her. He carefully counted her coins, gently taking them from her shaking hands. He addressed her with soft “yes ma’am” after “yes ma’am.” When she asked if she had enough to buy a reusable bag, he reassured her she did, then walked two lines over to grab one and repacked her items without the slightest sign of annoyance. No huff, no sigh, no eye roll. Just pure patience and kindness.
As I stood there, I realized my daughter Eloise was watching too. She was standing beside the woman, quietly observing the way this young man showed compassion. And it hit me. I wasn’t being inconvenienced at all. My daughter was learning a powerful lesson in kindness and patience. A lesson I, too, needed to be reminded of.
When the woman finished, the employee rang up my items and thanked me for my patience. I told him that he was the one teaching us patience and kindness that day. My Target timeline might have been thrown off, but my heart was in the right place as I pushed the cart to find his manager. I wanted her to know how much his actions meant to me and my little girl.
We left with a cart full of groceries, but more importantly, a heart full of gratitude. If you ever find yourself at the Glendale Target, look for Ishmael. Give him a smile and a nod. The world truly needs more people like him.
Credit to the original storyteller.