She was very nice looking: Beautiful smile, bright eyes, moss green in colour, a dusting of brown sugar freckles on her nose and cheeks, skin the colour of autumn - like lightly bronzed leaves tinged with the last golden rays of a setting sun - a lithe body, but still shapely, and a jumble of auburn hair precariously bundled upon her head, a few stray wisps haphazardly falling here and there framing her obvious beauty perfectly.
- galenkp -
I've had difficulties with my mobile phone account; it's complicated but essentially Australia's largest telco advised they were going to charge me $2.50 a month for paper bills and I had to arrange email or online bills with them if I wanted to avoid it. Simple right?
Wrong. It was a debacle starting in early October to the second week of January.
In the process I'd paid multiple bills that seem to keep on coming, had refund checks sent for the payments I made, and was at the end of the fuse and ready to explode at someone. Anyone. Everyone. I'd been given the run-around, sent here and there, to retail stores, call-centres, the app, twice, which made the situation worse, and finally found myself at a business centre.
I wasn't my best; I mean, I'm usually polite of course, I don't rant and rave, raise my voice or blame the person standing in front of me because it's often not their fault, but I was annoyed, agitated and my expectations were low. The woman behind the counter realised it too. She delved in and the saga continued.
I'll admit to feeling the red veil of rage begin to descend when she said, "you need to go to a retail store, this is a business centre", but I ignored it and pushed on; she, clearly seeing and appreciating my efforts to retain a calm countenance and demeanour, pushed on also.
She worked through the issue, brought in some assistance, hit some keys on her computer out the back then walked back in with a [stunningly beautiful] smile, sat beside me and explained what she'd done and that the problem was solved. I was dubious; I'd heard, the problem is solved before, but it wasn't.
She'd credited me back almost two hundred dollars, removed a few ongoing charges from my account, rectified a wrong address that had somehow popped up in the process and dealt with the email bill situation. She also told me I'd been paying for insurance on my last phone a Samsung S20 [that failed after eighteen months] and that if I brought it in she would be able to do a claim and get a new one sent to my door. What the bloody fuck, I didn't even know I was paying for it. #WTBF
I have since bought an S22 Ultra so don't need another phone but thought a spare might be prudent. I arranged to drop back in later that day and we parted ways. I was feeling very grateful for her help and the way in which she had handled the situation.
As it turned out, the S20 was kaput. I'd thrown it into a drawer when it failed and, for some reason, the battery puffed up so instead of looking like a sleek phone battery, it looked like a fucken pillow and it had completely forced the back of the phone off. "They wouldn't take it back," the woman told me, but...off she went again, being all awesome and stuff... She credited my account with five hundred and forty dollars to refund the cost of the phone insurance I'd been paying.
We chatted for a while, talked about the stupidity of the telco's processes, their customer app, which she told me never to use, and a few other things before she told me to come back to see her about phone issues anytime indicating she'd be happy to help.
I walked away feeling good, happy that the account situation was dealt with but also about the fact that I'd actually found and experienced some exemplary customer service. She was also very easy to look at and that made me smile a little too.
That night, last Friday, I got online and ordered up some flowers for her. I wanted to show my gratitude and despite saying it to her face I wanted to go a step further.
I wondered for a moment if it was legit to send flowers but decided the worst that could happen would be she hated them and thought it was weird. I put some thought into my choice of flowers, no roses - it was a gesture of gratitude, I wasn't in love with her - and typed out a message to go with them, something suitably grateful and appreciative and signed it with my first name only; she'd remember who I was, or not.
The following Monday I received an email from her, part of which you can see below. Clearly she didn't hate them or think it was weird and sending them was the right thing to do. She feels nice about being appreciated...Who would have thought? I responded and she responded back once again and that's about it.
I bought her flowers to say thank you and to show my appreciation in a more meaningful way; it was a small price to pay to put a smile on her face which, I hope, stayed there all day. It felt good to go a little out of my way and the feeling I have gained from the small act of kindness, and the way she received it, has carried forward. It puts a smile on my face to know I did that for her, put a smile on her face.
There was no ulterior motive other than to say thank you, and the way she looked had no bearing on my decision to buy her flowers.
I don't harbour a secret wish to date her and the flowers were not an attempt at attention or to impress her. Sure, in a different universe maybe I'd want to do so, she seemed so lovely, but in this reality it was all about showing my gratitude and thanks, and having integrity, humility and kindness.
In giving a little, I received so much more in return, the happiness I gained knowing I'd brought a little happiness into her day...I know she was just doing her job, but clearly she did it better then others, at least on this occasion, solved issues that had been ongoing for three months and did it with a smile, a lovely damned smile. Her patience, attention and kindness impacted upon me and I hoped my own would do the same with her, and it did. I'd say that's a pretty good situation all round wouldn't you?
Have you ever been the recipient of a small act of kindness, or delivered one to someone else? Have you ever experienced an act that was so valuable to you that you were moved to go a little further in thanks than a word or two? Feel free to tell me about it in the comments below, or just make any comments you feel relevant or appropriate.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised so be humble and kind
The images in this post are my own
