Happy & Healthy
KILL THEM WITH KINDNESS
Are you standing in line on your Sunday for the service desk of Albert (let's leave why I was there in the middle), you are witnessing a classic supermarket drama. But really, a one-sided bitch fight that completely throws you off your game. Honestly... Who is in such a hurry on a Sunday? Not me. So when someone cuts in, you sigh once with a volume that you are sure the line-cutter hears. Done is Keesie. Well, this Sunday went a little differently.
‘whoohoo, kill them with kindness’
You should know that the service desk in question can sometimes be a bit unclear. A shopping cart on the left, a loose scratch card scratcher on the right, and a whole pick-up-point family in your neck. So also this afternoon, I was calmly dozing until the cashier would call me to my position. A lady placed a cheerful autumn scene in a glass jar on the counter to pay. And there was the shopping cart on the left (which was rightfully next) not agreeing with that. I have never seen a woman (I can't call her a lady) act so aggressively over such a triviality. The line-cutter was shocked out of her mind and I immediately saw that this was a case of genuinely not noticing. She stammered an apology, stepped aside as quickly as she could to let the woman with red spots on her neck go ahead. But that wasn't enough. No, the shopping cart on the left kept calling her all sorts of nasty things. ’Why are you reacting so violently?‘, asked the sweet, unaware line-cutter. No response. The girls behind the counter saved the day by opening another register and helping the raging woman immediately. Out of the store to be precise. I stammered a bit dazed to the excited lady that it was quite exaggerated (risking a punch to my jaw), complimented the lady in front of me on how nice she remained, and smiled a bit at the counter girls. And then I saw it; the sweet woman with the autumn jar was so shocked that she cried and almost typed the wrong PIN three times. The counter girls said encouraging words, put an arm around her, and I also tried to cheer her up a bit. But it didn't really help, as the lady fled the store.
‘Why are you reacting so violently?’
Why, oh why does someone act so unkind? I don't understand that. I also get annoyed by the line-cutting people in life, but then I make a surprised face and say in that same tone that I thought it was my turn. Or I say nothing, because that one minute doesn't matter at all if you're already late. And if you do say something and a line-cutter reacts like this particular lady, you actually just want to hug her. In my mind, I also shouted ‘whoohoo, kill them with kindness’, because that’s what she did. And I think that's impressive. Actually, I find this sweet line-cutter an example of how it can also be done. I'm not a goody two-shoes, because in traffic all road abusers are mine. But the excited shopping cart on the left can still learn something from how this lady with the autumn scene in a jar reacted to her. Just like from Albert's service girls, because they can't do anything wrong in my eyes. Kill them with kindness, that's what I'm going to try from now on. And a big hug for my sweet, unaware line-cutter: you rock.
