The lady at the checkout looked at me with some kind of interest. Weird. There was nothing interesting about me yesterday. Apart from being (permanently) tall – which, I was sure, wasn’t the reason for her curiosity.
– Are you OK for bags?, she asked, while I was rummaging through my handbag.
Yes, I was. I hate paying pennies for reusable bags, but also I do try to make some contribution to saving the planet by using my own bags.
– I like the colour of your hair!
This is when I looked at her with curiosity. This woman didn’t have to be friendly to me. All she had to do was scan my groceries and take my money. So I appreciated her extra effort to be friendly, smiled at her and pulled my credit card out of my purse. It was one of those lousy days where the last thing you feel like is to talk to strangers.
I, myself, have made other women compliments about their clothes, accessories. Not necessarily because I genuinely liked them, not because I felt generous either. There must have been something about them to prompt me to say something to make them feel good. Or maybe it was an urge to demonstrate that women’s solidarity – which, I must say, no one has actually demonstrated to me.
– I really like it!, she demanded again.
Now, this was unusual.
– What make is it?
This is when she got all my attention. I gleamed and engaged in the conversation fully. She was genuinely interested.
I knew exactly what brand it was, but, somehow taken aback, I couldn’t remember the exact name.
– L’Oreal something… Cream colour… Not sure what it’s called, actually.
– It is an unusual colour, too.
Yes, it was, actually. I bought it in error, mistook it for my regular colour, dark brown. This was called, strangely, ‘ ruby black’. Upon discovery of the mistake, I did feel slightly uneasy, remembering all those horrific stories about hair dye experiments gone wrong. What the hell is ruby black?
It turned out to be a successful experiment after all. Needless to say, no one noticed my new colour. Hubby wouldn’t anyway, but my son (who is usually very observant) didn’t notice the change of shade either. So I completely forgot about it.
And there she was: a complete stranger admiring my hair, being friendly and trying to get as much information about my hair dye as she could. She also wanted to know where I got it from, which made me want to be helpful to her in appreciation of her friendliness. I remembered exactly where I bought it from and how much it was on a special offer.
Walking away from the till, I knew that this was what made my day. I know she will never get to read this post, but, still, I dedicate it to her. The nameless lady at the till who made me feel special on a day when I wasn’t. The woman who made the world seem right again. At least for that evening.
P.S. I was planning to write this post anyway, but it coincided with the topic of our first ‘proper’ assignment in Blogging 101. So here it is, my answer to today’s topic: ‘Today’s Assignment: publish a post for your dream reader, and include a new-to-you element in it.’
Not Another Tall Blog 
People often don’t understand the power of genuine concern or a kind word and it’s a shame. I’m definitely going to make more of an effort to repay or pay forward sincere compliments and such. Great post!
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Thank you! Yes, so true…
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Fantastic story, thanks for sharing! Too often people only hear about it when we have a negative experience, making this most refreshing!
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That’s correct, yes. Thank you. 🙂
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You know, this acts of spontaneous kindness are always very remarkable (specially now, when instead of speaking with friends and family people even during the dinner look in the phone).
Once in America a guy bought me lunch, and I was very hungry and I was going to spend my last money on food. I just stayed in the queue behind him. I think I will remember this guy forever. Of cause I would borrow the money from my friends the same evening for two days till I receive the bank transfer, but actually it was not a lunch. He gave me forces to keep on
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Yes, kindness is rare to come by nowadays, and it does strile me when it happens. Thanks very much for the follow. 🙂
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My pleasure, my pleasure 🙂
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Sometimes I am in such a hurry going from one place to another that I forget to smile at people or say something kind. Then I feel bad because I know that sometimes those few genuinely kind words or that one kind smile could be what changes the entire time of his or her day. I’ve often been told that as a teacher I can make or break my students with a single word or look but I think we forget that as human brigs we can do the same thing. Thanks for the reminder. This was a lovely story and I enjoyed reading it! Ps thanks for the follow:) I look forward to flowing your writing as well!
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Thanks for your nice comment, I am glad you liked my little story. Thanks for your follow too, and I do look forward to reading your posts too!
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People tend to notice such things about us which we thought are not that prominent. We always expect from our family to notice something we have done, but it’s not so easily visible to them. I can totally relate to you 🙂
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Glad you can relate to my post, thanks. 🙂
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I know the feeling ‘of feeling like someone is trying to be nice and they don’t have to be’…and I love it that you dedicated this article to her. You’ll never know, but someday she’ll read it or someone she told the story to.
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I love to hear stories like this. Yes, there are still people in the world who are genuinely interested in someone other than themselves. Thanks for writing such an uplifting post!
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And thank you for your nice comment!
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It’s almost like a “pass it on” when things like this happen. Instead of focusing on the negativity of a particular day or giving off a negative vibe opportunities like this offer a chance for you to change your perspective and pass on the kindness, even if it’s a nice little compliment of “I like your hair.”
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Exactly! Thanks for your comment. 🙂
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I don’t take compliments well, it’s not that I don’t like them I just never know how to respond. I’m genuine in my response always, usually a thank you, but it just feels so awkward because I follow it up by spouting off the price of whatever it was that was complimented.
“Thanks!” I’ll gush, “I got it for five dollars.” Then I’ll berate myself because they probably don’t care how cheap I got it for, they just thought it was cute.
Giving compliments is not a problem for me in the slightest. If I see something I like, I make it a point to comment on it. Shoes, purses, hair, or whatever else, if it’s something that fascinates me I’m going to tell the person just so it might make their day a bit brighter.
Also, I’m somewhat tall myself; but I forget how tall I am until somewhat says something about it. Maybe it’s because I’m surrounded by taller family members, so I feel short in comparison. I don’t know what it is, but my 5’11” height doesn’t seem tall until someone draws my attention to it. Then I find myself thinking that yeah, I am a little on the tall side.
Great blog, this post really resonated with me because I used to dye my hair all sorts of colors. Now I’m a simple brown because it took me a year and chopping off all my locks for the blue to finally leave.
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Hey, thanks for taking the time to think about all this and to write it here! I am so glad you liked the blog, so thanks for the follow, too. I look forward to reading your posts!
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What a lovely story and I do wholeheartedly agree that often a kind word, a smile or in this case the genuine interest from a stranger about which product you had used in order to achieve your lovely hair colour can help make one’s day so much better.Lovely post thank you for sharing.Kathy.
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Thanks for your lovely comment and for stopping by. 🙂
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Hard to know what appeals to strangers…. but your hair colour name..certainly sounds unusual
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Yes, especially the way I recalled it when caught aback! 😉
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Great write! I’m glad she made you feel better. I’m letting everyone know that every Saturday I will be letting everyone know what’s going on with my blog. This last week was mostly photos, a short story, etc. Next week I will be working on some new exciting photos, new great articles on health, business, more short stories, and many other things. You’re writings always cheer me up. I look forward to reading more. Have a great night.
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Awesome! I’m glad she made you feel better. I’m letting everyone know that every Saturday I will be letting everyone know what’s going on with my blog. This last week was mostly photos, a short story, etc. Next week I will be working on some new exciting photos, new great articles on health, business, more short stories, and many other things. You’re writings always cheer me up. Goodnight.
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Thanks for stopping by and letting me know what you are up to. I’ll head over to your blog soon to have a read!
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You’re welcome! Thank you. :-).
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🙂
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