“I cried because I had no shoes and then I met a man with no feet.”
Wally Lamb
I was on the phone with one of our local doctors when I noticed a developing ruckus at one of our pharmacy’s cash registers. Â Wally, one of my favorite long time customers, was visibly upset, and seemed to be coming unglued at our cashier, Lois.
I asked the doctor to excuse me, and I quickly motioned to my partner to grab the call I was on. Then, I raced down to the register to see what was happening.
Much to my surprise and amazement, Wally was incredibly, and uncharacteristically, upset because the price on his blood pressure medication refill had gone up $4.99 over the last time he had purchased it, about 90 days earlier.
Looking for some sort of pattern interrupt in order to diffuse the situation, I turned to Lois and said: Â “I’ll tell you what Lois, this is really our fault for not telling Wally upfront that his price was going up, so for his extra trouble, let’s just give him this one at no charge.”
My cashiers are used to my “antics” and have gotten bored with trying to figure out what or why I might do something unexpected, so she quickly overrode the price of his prescription and handed me his bag.
I then turned to a stunned and speechless Wally and said, “I really am sorry for your inconvenience my friend. You know, I was just about to head up to the Subway near the front entrance for a cup of coffee. Â Do you mind if I walk you out?”
“Um, sure, I guess…” Wally uttered quietly, obviously still processing the quick turn of events.
I smiled and ushered him in the proper direction. Â When we were safely out of view (and earshot) of anything pharmacy related, I slowed up my pace and asked him calmly and quietly: Â “Wally, do you mind if I ask you something?”
He didn’t really answer, but made some sort of noise that I took to mean “yes”.
I was going to ask him anyway 🙂
“One of the coolest parts of my job, is that I’ve been doing this for a very long time in the very same place. Â And, as you already know, I don’t have customers, I have friends that happen to shop where I happen to work.”
He made another unrecognizable noise that I took to mean that he was ready for my question.
I was going to ask it anyway 🙂
“Wally, as your friend, and someone who cares about you, I know in my heart of hearts that you are not the kind of person who would purposely sell me his dignity for a lousy 5 bucks. WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?”
By that point, our slow walk had become a stop, and we were just two guys standing in a department store in the middle of nowhere; one deeply concerned about the other, and one contemplating the ashamed feeling we all get when we temporarily lose site of our true character.
Wally began to tell me a story about holiday bills, property tax increases, heating costs, college tuition, etc… and then finished with tears in his eyes, and an exasperation that I think we all feel from time to time. “Sometimes I just feel like, well like, I’ll never get ahead…and I just get so frustrated…”
When he finished, I put my hand on his shoulder and said with a smile: Â “Man, have I been THERE my friend, but let me tell you about the law of attraction…” and I went on to explain to him that the more we allow ourselves to wallow in anger and frustration, the more we attract frustrating circumstances into our lives.
“Successful thinkers” I clarified, “realize that our current conditions and circumstances have nothing to do with what is possible for us going forward; they are simply the sum total of the decisions that we have made so far. Â If we want things to change for us, we have to change our perspectives.”
“How do you mean?” he asked quietly.
“Well, take my first two customers today. Â One has an 11 year old daughter with an advancing brain tumor, and he has all he can do to afford the gas it takes to get her to the medical center she needs to go to. Â The other had his leg amputated last week because of diabetes, and he isn’t even 50 years old.”
“When you put it like that, I feel kind of well…, ashamed.”
“Don’t feel bad, just realize that your frustration is a sign that you need to make different decisions going forward, and that as long as your kids are healthy, and you still have your legs, life is pretty darn good.”
“WOW!” he blurted out as he began walking towards the door.
I stood there for a moment longer thinking about all of the times when “the shoe was on the other foot” in one way or another.
“Well, at least I have a foot!” I whispered to myself shaking my head at my own foolish past behavior. 🙂
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