Dear "Shouty Lady"...
Welcome friends!
Here’s another installment of “Behind the Lens~ Sharing my Artist’s Heart”
** Today’s Feature~ Dear Shouty Lady… ***
Okay, I have got to share my heart with you guys today…
I understand that we live in a world where we expect to get exactly what we want nowadays. I mean, who doesn’t? We have AMAZON, and it will deliver anything you want (well, mostly) to your door in days.
No inconvenience at all. Guaranteed.
If you don’t want it anymore? Return it… mostly without dealing with another human being!
However, i feel like we are letting our social interactions, common decency, go out the window for lack of practice.
I observed something today in a store: I was in Tuesday Morning { a deep discount big box type store} shopping for my Motherhood Sessions. It was my 4th place of the morning and I was slightly annoyed at having to run all over tarnation to find these big white boho type pillows for a session. Well, while I was perusing the throw pillow aisle when something happened that really threw me for a loop.
{Backstory: Now, without going into too much detail here~ where I live is a very affluent place in south Florida. We have a lot of retired millionaires walking around and throwing their money around. Now, don’t get me wrong. I appreciate that they do that! I am grateful that they do, they bring a lot of prosperity to our town. However, with that comes a certain expectation and privilege and attitude. Let’s just leave it at that…}
I hear shouting coming from the front of the store. So obviously, I am on alert and I begin walking towards the front of the store. There was an older woman, 65 or 70 maybe, SCREAMING at the cashier. I couldn’t really make out what she was saying at first, and by the time I had gotten up there she had worked herself into such a tizzy that she was no longer making sense. She was just kind of repeating herself ya know. It kind of reminded me of when a toddler is exhausted and inconsolable because their shoelace is wet :-)
The poor cashier (who, by the way, is also an older woman aged 60-65) was there and this woman was demanding something from the cashier, either money on her card or a better bag or something. The woman slammed her phone on the counter and when the cashier went to return it, she screamed
“Don’t you DARE touch my phone!
How fucking DARE YOU!
Why do you work here? Why do they even allow you to have a JOB at all?!?!?”
I mean, she was out of control y’all…
So as I am watching this unfold, the manager comes brushing by me to go and assist and I’m stricken in my heart. I mean, I had the saddest feeling yall. In that moment of upset, I realized something…
We are LACKING common decency in our dealings with each other. Not everybody, but a lot of us…
This is something that I have been thinking about for quite some time. With all of the speed and personalization and catering we receive on the DAILY, everything is fast now a days. It’s EXACTLY how we want it. We walk around expecting to be treated like a QUEEN or KING no matter where we go or what we buy. Waiting and polite manners have gone out the window!!! I feel like we are becoming out of touch with the real world, with ourI phones and Facebook, and quick stupid comments back and forth, we are losing touch with how we actually treat each other.
Now, there are quite a few things wrong with the way this woman was treating this poor cashier, Im going to tell you what they are, yet I am sure you already understand them with your own heart. I have entitled this letter below…
“Dear SHOUTY woman”,
I do not know how you came into the shop this morning, and I wish that I did. However, your behavior was beyond common decency and more than that, it was downright embarrassing to you and the entirety of the store that witnessed it. You still seem confused and self-righteous… allow me to explain:
1) You are shopping at TUESDAY MORNING> This place is not a palace, noone needs to treat you like a queen here. This is a shop that YOU, dear friend, come shopping at to find the deepest discounts imaginable on discontinued things. So, the idea of expectation that these minimum wage employees are going to treat you like ROYALTY when you walk in there, is ridiculous. If you want people to kiss your ass and stumble over their words to take your HUSBANDS credit card, go to Nordstroms. It is literally 2 minutes down the road. Let’s be real here…
2) This woman is just working at a job. To put her GRANDCHILDREN through college.
That’s it.
She doesn’t deserve your ire, or your hatred, or you misplaced anger. I’m sure she was following company policy. Moreoever, she deserves the applause of the angels for putting up with your screaming and berating her for as long as she did.
3) You’re at a S H O P. That’s it. A shop. Where is your perspective in this?
It’s not that she murdered your son.
It’s not like she slammed your face into a wall.
It’s not even like she spilled water down your back a restaurant.
You are at a STORE. There is NOTHING that the poor cashier could have done that would merit being screamed at like that. I’m sorry, but that is just unacceptable.
So, as I am sitting here pondering this, I am thinking: What is a way to spread Kindness and Compassion around? I am convinced that as co-humans on this earth, we NEED to really start to embrace the movement of treating each other with….
Respect
Love
Understanding
I’m not saying that everyone needs to walk around being “Miss Suzie Sunshine” like I am often. But at the very least, understand where people are coming from. As I am thinking this, I just want to go give that Shouty Woman a big hug because I am SURE that the cashier was not the only problem of her day. Who knows? Maybe she had a terrible morning, maybe someone screamed at her? Or hurt her? Or her husband was angry with her? She was just venting. I am not excusing it at all. Yet, i am convinced that the poor cashier who deigned to bag her purchases incorrectly was NOT the catalyst for her explosions.
It’s just such a hard world. I want to be one of the one’s who makes it better for my being here.
I’m not sure how you feel, I hope you do too!
But I want to leave my mark of compassion on this sad and fallen world before my
time…runs…out…
So, from now on, I am going to be 100% committed to spreading LOVE and KINDNESS and COMPASSION and UNDERSTANDING to every single person that comes across my path. Young or old, client or friend, husband or complete stranger.
That’s it.
I’m gonna let you all go with one last thought:
Just, love each other.
Understand where the other person is coming from that you are having a conflict with.
Enjoy your day guys….
~ Kelly
Behind the Lens~
Sharing my Artist’s Heart
