Today something happened that stopped me in my tracks. I was waiting for my pharmacy to open, and noticed that the pharmacy tech had reached for a prescription right before opening the window. Turns out it was my prescription. He knew who I was.
Now, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. I’ve been going to that pharmacy for several years and this particular tech had helped me numerous times. But I don’t have that many prescriptions, so it’s not like I’m there every week.
I guess I always feel anonymous. Why should anyone remember me? In this case, I typically go to the pharmacy, give them my name and date of birth, and they give me the prescription. It’s a brief transaction and there’s never been anything memorable about it, like having to call the doctor’s office or me getting upset because something went wrong (nothing ever goes wrong, and I wouldn’t get upset if it did).
So I don’t expect to be remembered. But it’s things like this simple gesture that keep me going back. Simple human kindness. I doubt the young man helping me had any idea how good it made me feel that he remembered me. In fact, he’d probably be surprised that I was surprised.
It makes me more keenly aware of what a difference a simple smile or common courtesy when you’re shopping can make. People like to be respected. In our day-to-day lives, how often do we go out of our way to make those we see all the time feel special?
There’s a woman at work who says things like, “Belinda knows what she’s doing” or “you can count on Belinda” and that always makes me feel so good. I try to remember to do the same for others, but I don’t think I’m as good about it as she is.
As the old commercial jingle goes, “life’s simple pleasures are the best.” Let’s give out a few simple pleasures this week.
Image Credits: Hello (header) © Nadya Ustuzhantceva; Hello (cat) © ciaoaleandro; both, stock.adobe.com
My World With Words 
You must be logged in to post a comment.