To the Cashier That Left Me Totally Wordless – My Hat's Off to You
It was a day of rest, and I felt in a foul mood, filling up my mother's vehicle. It was a typical gas station that also functions as a grocery store, which often leads of ending up in line shoppers with carts of pricey provisions. A terrible fate to happen when all you want is to complete a simple refueling. Terrible.
My position was fourth in the waiting line. A single employee working, a female attendant. There was something unusual in her demeanor. When the faffer at the front of the queue had completed payment for a cleaning product, his sausage roll, and a carton of eggs, It seemed to me overhearing the cashier bid him a wonderful day. Odd. Perhaps I’d misheard, or maybe she did say it and was being sarcastic. The thought crossed my mind if perhaps she was a comrade in the war on delays, reflecting my irritation for people who hold up people just getting gas like me.
Advancing next, to third in the queue. The next shopper of our group finished pumping gas with impressive quickness. Once more it happened: “Have a wonderful day.” No, actually, it was “may your day be absolutely splendid”. An American? Here in Stourbridge? She had the accent, and hardly anyone here says to others such a cheerful phrase, or simply a good day. Quite out of place. Rarely does one encounter US citizens frequenting this area, least of all working in petrol stations or other places.
Now I stood second. After an elderly lady embroiled in a lengthy struggle with her carryall, her purchases, her purse and her membership pass. This took an eternity. When she was done, the woman also was wished a wonderful day. Definitely from the US. Confirming it was possible by cracking a joke at the cashier, to see if she did that response when they look at you, unsmilingly, and state very earnestly: “That is quite humorous.” Yet no idea came of a jest to say.
In the end, I embraced the genuine warmth – or an impersonation of it, which amounts to identical in effect – as she gazed straight at me, piercingly, and wished me a wonderful day. I felt better for it. Beneficial indeed.
