I bag groceries to pay the bills. An eight and a half hour shift can get tiresome at times, especially on days like today. I do genuinely enjoy work because of my interactions with interesting customers and co-workers. While customer service at a large foods store in Portland is demanding, I find salvation in humor. Be it conversations or hand gestures, jokes or stories, the customer service crew knows how to enjoy time spent beneath the glow of register lights.
At the end of my shift today, I was dragging. Salt has started. There are a million things to think about and emotions of nervousness have combined with anxiety. As I placed items into bags, squirted tables with sanitizer and collected baskets, I thought about the time I was losing, the impending assignments, and never-ending “To Do” list.
Then, a woman came through my line with her own re-usable bags. I began packing them according to weight and temperature (yes, baggers can separate hot from cold ). I glanced at her crinkled bakery bag on which was written a message in green penmanship.
“Thanks for crawling into bed with me. XO.”
It made my week.
