or, "It Takes So Little To Make Me Happy"
Cranky had
taken a test for a job, a very involved and convoluted test but loved the
challenge of it but then worried she hadn’t passed it and wished she had
had more time to look it over. So, when
she hit the streets of Manhattan after the test and a group of Italian-speaking
people asked her directions to the ‘Metro,’ she blanked --- Cranky’s brain was
still lost in the test she feared she had flunked.
“Metro,
metro?“ --- Cranky thought --- oh, right --- the subway! The Italian tourists were sweet and waited
patiently, somehow trusting she’d eventually come through. They were all on a corner of a major
intersection in mid-Manhattan. There had
to be a subway around somewhere.
Finally, it
came to Cranky and she pointed them to just a few blocks away, to a biggity-big
station that she had fogged out on, apologizing to them that she had just taken
a test and was confused. The bigger guy of
the group shook his head understanding the word ‘test’ and all were smiling and
grateful, bound on the ‘Metro’ to “Ground Zero” --- a term Cranky hadn’t heard in
a while.
Then, on the
way back to Brooklyn and another commitment, Cranky stopped to return something
to a store, a major chain --- only to be told she was two days’ past the return
time and when Cranky balked, not wanting a pair of pants that didn’t fit, the
cashier handed her back the bag and said --- “Here --- take them, they’re
yours!” Cranky tried bargaining for a
store credit but to no avail. “Call
central headquarters” was all she was told and sadly went out the door carrying
a bag and contents she couldn’t use and everybody probably knows how cheap
(err, frugal) Cranky is. Plus, she hates waste and this was waste.
Cranky was now
not only a bit shaky from the test and the failure to return something to a
‘known’ store but she hadn’t eaten anything so far that morning. She wanted to just pick up a cup of coffee to
take with her on the ‘metro’ back to Brooklyn and eat at home.
But, when Ms.
Cranky searched and searched for a coffee cart (they are cheaper than most cafes
and, usually, have great coffee) --- they were nowhere to be found --- not near
Penn Station anyway. It was all hot dog
and souvlaki carts but no coffee carts.
So, underground
in the Penn Station Concourse, Cranky wandered among the many shops, not
wanting to spend a lot of money for not very good coffee. Then, she came upon a really good chain she
knew had good products if not cheap prices.
Has Cranky used the word ‘cheap’ over five times yet??? --- She hopes
not.
But, as Cranky
entered the shop and approached the counter to order, she came upon four young
cashiers behind the counter, all women, singing along with and dancing to a
very catchy Michael Jackson tune. Cranky’s
mood changed immediately --- they cracked her up! Out of nowhere, it wasn't even noon yet, on an
ordinary work day --- Cranky had come upon this burst of joy --- four girls, of
different shapes, sizes and heights, each with a broad smile, were dancing up a
storm.
They were so
into their routine that Cranky danced along with them as she tried to order
coffee --- not easy to do over the din.
Then,
suddenly, the girls pointed her to a stand in the middle of the shop where you help
yourself to coffee and, as Cranky pulled out money to pay, they hollered and
waved her away ---‘it’s on us!’ they said and went on about their dancing. She
tried protesting, waving her bill in the air, but they just kept a-dancing.
This was just
the medicine that Cranky needed to fend off the ‘probably-failed-the-test blues’
and the huge chain store that didn’t have a decent return policy. How wonderful to run into this ménage and on
an ordinary Thursday, in a crowded underground area, just up from where she’d
catch the “A” train.
And, for
their joy and good will towards her, Cranky will now not seek out a cheaper
coffee cart when she is nearby but will go back to that shop over and
over.
It takes so
little to be nice and it takes very little for Ms. Cranky to perk right up and
soldier on. ‘Perk up’, te he, not meant
to be a pun but a pretty good one anyway!!!
Thanks for stopping by, as always,
and Cranky’d love to hear any of your stories of lovely happenings in the
ordinary days of your life.
Ms. Cranky ---
from underground at Penn Station where
the subways run --- celebrating a good deed that meant so much --- cashiers who
dance, and, why not? --- and, oh, the coffee was so very good!
rock on cashiers and counter people
of the world --- rock on!!!