The Unconventional Angel

Moral of the Story: Please be kind to retail employees. They have the toughest job during the holiday season (and I should know, I'm one of them). Give them patience and understanding and your holiday shopping will be a breeze.

"Excuse me--! Miss!"

 

Nina blinked, suddenly surprised to find herself back at work; up on a ladder no less. She could've sworn five seconds ago she was back at home, curled up in front of her fireplace sipping some hot chocolate...

 

Damn...

 

Looking down Nina caught sight of a plump red-faced woman, waving her yellow reciept in the air like a war banner. Nina pursed her lipes as she descended the ladder, forcing that ever practiced 'I-Work-In-Retail-Because-I-Love-The-Abuse' smile to her lips. "Sorry about that--what can I help you with?" The woman huffed, folding her arms over her large chest. Her nostrils were flared which, in Nina's experience, was never a good sign.

 

"Well for one you can find me your manager to speak to--I'm not very pleased with the service I'm getting here today and you can just wipe that smirk off your face!"

 

Nina shifted her weight from foot to foot before she looked up to the woman. She dropped her smile to what she hoped to be a more relaxed look and since the woman's face didn't turn another shade of red Nina assumed she had pulled it off.

 

"Actually ma'am, I'm the manager on duty--" Nina began but the woman cut her off. "Well that explains the crappy service I'm getting here today. I've been waiting for five whole minutes--" Nina resisted rolling her eyes as whenever a customer said that they've been waiting five whole minutes, they typically have been waiting for 2 minutes or less "--for you to give me my engravings. It's getting late and I need to cook supper!"

 

Nodding apologetically all the way, Nina took the woman's order form and looked it over. A pair of birthstone bracelets for the girls, a engraved baby-sippy cup for a friend, and a whiskey flask for her husband. Remembering the items always helped Nina in finding her bags and luckily it was one by the engraver with her.

 

Slipping behind the island that stored the cash register and the engraver Nina let out a breath of relief. Unwrapping the gifts carefully, Nina smiled again as she laid them out for inspection. Perhaps if the woman was blown away by her handiwork she would be more forgiving...but poor Nina had no such luck.

 

The woman, already in a tirade, fully exploded with the force of twelve atomic bombs.

 

"You misspelled my husband's name! Who the hell is Jhon!? And my daughter Kelsie was born in MAY not in MARCH! Rachel was born in MARCH not in MAY! And how the hell do you expect me to give this to Sheryl? Her baby's not even born yet and you engraved December 25th, 2008 on the cup! What am I supposed to do about this now?!"

 

It took a full 30 seconds for Nina's heart to recover from the shock and awe tactics used by the customer. After having gotten all her rage out she now stood in front of Nina, livid as ever, her arms folded and tapping her foot. Gulping hard Nina nearly choked as she said the words. "Of course ma'am I'll go right ahead and replace your items correctly, they should be ready in about 20 minutes if you--" "I don't have 20 minutes to wait for your incompetence..." Hiding the sigh from the customer Nina nodded and slid the woman a piece of paper. "Well then if you would please ma'am give me your address and I'll be happy to drop off your items tonight on my way home--"

 

The woman scoffed and wrote down her address so illegibly that Nina prayed it was entered in the computer. When she was finally gone Nina took a casual look at her time clock and felt an ache steal into her heart.

 

It was 7 o'clock Christmas Eve. Nina's husband, Nick, would be tucking their daughter Renna into bed right now, telling her the story The Night Before Christmas. Renna would be in the red Christmas pajamas Nina had bought for her, all excited for Christmas day. As the woman guided herself through the store to replace the woman's items she let out a deep, heavy sigh. Gods but Nina was thankful for her husband. Not many men would stand by while their wives took on a 60+ hour per week job much less be able to tend to the house and care for the kids. Nick had been wonderful and understanding and took on the role of Mr. Mom like a champ. One of these days she was going to have to repay him...

 

Nina took her time finishing the engravings due for the end of the night yet no matter how many times she looked to the clock the minutes seemed to tick by slowly. A constant stream of customers needing their items kept Nina in the back room almost the whole of the first half-hour but the crowd was getting bigger and more irritated. Why did they wait so long if they're in such a hurry? Nina thought as she passed into a familiar phase she went through now and again. Bitterness.

 

Why couldn't she be the one cursing under their breaths about the slowness of the service? Why couldn't she be pacing incessantly, hurrying to get home to tuck her own daughter into bed? Oh that's right---I still have a heart Nina almost chuckled in the face of an angry gentleman as he snatched his picture frame from her and stormed off.

 

Why was it that when a customer entered a store they believe that they are the most important customer? Nevermind the older woman who's getting an 'In Loving Memory' frame engraved for her husband who passed just before Christmas. Or the child anxious to get his mother an engraved locket while she pretends not to notice just outside the doors. No--these people were not nearly as important as the person who has no idea what they want or who they're buying for.

 

Nina's musings, which had already gotten her in trouble once tonight, was getting even worse now. The store was filled to capacity. The people were whispering to themselves and each other, buzzing like a nest of bees getting shaken up. Nina could only take so many at a time but for the next string of customers the number never seemed to be good enough. She'd even abandoned her feeble attempts at showing the customer's their items though she urged them to open their boxes to check on their work.

 

From the back of the store Nina wished now she hadn't sent JJ home early. The young man could definately help her keep up with the heavy stream of traffic but he was a newlywed and she felt bad making him work so late on Christmas Eve and had sent him home around 6. Now facing the buzzing hoarde of angry customers she began to feel overwhelmed.

 

People huffed and growled, tapping their feet like a deathmarch. Nina's head began to spin as it seemed the crowd would never end. It was already 8:30, half an hour past closing, but no one was going to leave until they had gotten their Christmas items and to Nina it felt like more were showing up by the minute. Why was she suddenly so scared? Her heart was racing but there was no need for it...she'd handled crowds like this at Valentine's Day and during spring Graduation.

 

Standing in front of the crowd Nina took in deep heaving breaths. People were closing in around her door and natural terror began to set in as the people raised their voices, shouting at her about how they all needed to get home. About how they had children to tuck in and presents to wrap. About how they were ready to go to bed...

 

"Why haven't you gotten my frames yet?!"

 

"I'm still waiting for my water globes!"

 

"Don't just stand there--Get my things!"

 

Finally poor Nina's knees gave out under her. She collapsed into the corner of the store, her hands over her ears as if it would drown out the angry mob she'd now created because she didn't want someone else trapped with her here on Christmas Eve. Tears flooded her eyes as the noise grew louder and she didn't need to look up to know the people were moving in towards her to berate her some more...but then--"Stop! Back up! Give the girl some room to breathe!! You should be ashamed of yourselves!!"

 

Nina could feel her heart skip a beat at the sound of another angry voice--turned against the mob instead of against her. So surprised was the mob that they all went silent. Nina opened her eyes and looked up to see a rather small older woman standing next to her, one of her bony fingers pointed at a few of the retreated customers. "If you needed this stuff so badly you should've been here before the mall closed and if I were being treated this badly by customer's I'd be telling you jokers to go home and come back on the 26th for your crap!"

 

Nina gasped with relief as the woman's scolding seemed to push the crowd back. The woman turned now to Nina and smiled, almost comfortingly, as she helped Nina back to her feet. The miniscule size of the woman was more than evident now. She could barely stand at 5'1 but she seemed to command attention. "There now dear--Don't cry. It's Christmas Eve after all," the woman's blue-eyed smile disappeared as she turned to look at the remaining customers, "And you'd all do well to remember that! Sure you have presents to wrap and children to tuck in tonight but doesn't she have that too? She's got a husband and a young daughter who's probably already asleep in bed. So if you want your junk get in a single line and be polite!"

 

The older woman turned to smile at Nina again as, under her wrath, the customers complied quietly for once. Now that Nina had partially recovered she saw that the crowd wasn't nearly as bad as her imagination had made it. The crowd was actually a small group of 6 or 7 people and, feeling renewed by the calmness of the room, Nina was able to get them all out of the store in 15 minutes.

 

The older lady stayed behind waiting as the last customer left for Nina to reappear with her own items, one of their angel water globe. Nina took her time with this one, carefully removing the globe from its box to display the message: "Peace On Earth And Goodwill To All Men". The lady nodded in agreement and smiled while Nina replaced its box. "It looks beautiful--thank you so much for your hard work."

 

This time when Nina's eyes filled with tears, they were tears of gratitude. The simple acknowledgement and appreciation made her feel better than she had all season. The woman smiled and rubbed Nina's arm gently. "Th-Thank you--" Nina sobbed softly, wiping the falling tears from her eyes. The older woman nodded, her blue eyes piercing again as the smile crept into her eyes before it met her lips. "Get on home...no one's left. Merry Christmas." Nina nodded and smiled in return. "Merry Christmas..."

Reviews

[Nancy Lee Shrader]

Congrats on your winning story. Great story!

[A sea person]

Thank you for submitting this to my contest! Sorry it took so long for me to get around to reading it! :)

What a beautiful story! Outstanding job!

v.r.
a-sea-person