Empty Boxes

I go to our local office supply store in order to obtain some empty boxes.  We are in the midst of renovation and my task is to get boxes so the lady of the house can take all of house warming decorations off the mantle, walls and tables and place them safely in the basement where the workmen won’t break them and the dust will not taint them. When I get to the store the manager tells me they recycle, so he has none to spare. As I was walking towards the exit he hollers that he's willing to sell me boxes.

I had one of those "I should tell him" moments we see used so successfully in movies, but I had other things to do so I decline my inner voice offering to pause and make a statement. You might say I didn't care enough to benefit him with the truth: I'm never buying anything from that store again. I've been a customer since they built it too; almost twenty years. All of that just ended.  It was his attitude that rubbed me. Sure, stores DO recycle to reduce their overheads, I get that. Just as I embrace the sound business practice of cutting overhead and cost, I salute any who address waste. It was his parting shot at trying to make a sale, any sale. He could have even faked a concern and say,

   "Oh let me go check."

Maybe even give me a box or two out of consideration for my plight. I mean really, how much would that have on his profit margin? But he didn't, so I pledged to shop at their competitors; yes out of spite, the great American way. I then next drove to a local liquor store. One I used a lot in past years, but not so much as of lately. I asked the girl at the counter if I could have any empty boxes. She denied me saying she needed them for the weekend business. Then she mentioned,

   "You should come by on Wednesday or Thursday's when we get shipments." Well is that helpful now?  I thanked her, then while exiting I noticed a wall of empty liquor boxes nearly to the ceiling; they must be expecting a brisk weekend for sure. Would two or three boxes out of just good customer relations really have put them in a bind? As I got into my car I realized, no they are just not trained to be receptive to good customer relations. I remember working with a smart-aleck fellow worker years ago when I was in high school, one of those menial labor jobs that are easily filled with untrained kids.  He use to say,

   "They don't pay me enough to care” I believe he was fired nearly the same week he told me that. My wife and I had gone to a vacuum cleaner store the other day to restock on vacuum cleaner bags.  Her vacuum is a scientific marvel that can only use a version of bags designed, fabricated, and hand sewn by mute nuns cloistered in a Convent hidden in the crannies of the Swiss Alps. They are nearly as expensive as purchasing an American made vacuum, or an Xbox. The owner of the shop is a real talker. He visited the topic of workers and mentioned he couldn't get any good ones;

   “…the kind that show up on time and put in an eight hour day...You just can’t find them.  Plus, they refuse to learn how to do it right" He wasn't convinced that the unemployment in this country was because retailers didn't have work. He said people don't work because they don't want to learn how to do something.

   "They don't want responsibility or real work. They want to be a receptionist or someone who doesn't have to do anything demanding. Then they grumble and drag their feet on every task because they feel abused and affronted that they are not paid a lot for nothing". Yeah, a lot for nothing.
   I continued to look for boxes. I resorted to one of those bargain basement discount stores, a place I readily will admit I avoided because I felt the quality of products were beneath my standards.  But I was empty handed and needed to find boxes.  To my surprise, the people there were happy to help when I asked for boxes.  I could see by their attire they were not the self-congratulating, upperly-mobile types working the high end anchor boutiques at the mall.  They didn't look to be even of the lower-middle class.  They were dressed as those who just got by.  I know that attire because when I was a musician I dressed like that too; making ends meet uniform.  I passed a young woman coming out of the store and rendered my morning greetings to her out of habit.  She instantly responded in kind with an engaging 'good morning' back, along with a great smile.  It dawned on me that people who are comfortable don't seem to be concerned with being nice.  I would also say those who are in the struggling zone of living, those who have little to spare, are the ones most ready to reciprocate to kindness.  They are the one's willing to share with a stranger.  I told my wife about my adventure.  She mentioned that she too found the happiest people she ever met were the ones with meager resources.  I got my boxes from that store, so I fulfilled my immediate mission.  But I had to admit, I didn't come back from there with anything remotely like empty.