The Best Holiday Present
A Gift From a Cashier at Walgreens
Hello my Parenting is a Joke listeners and readers. I woke up this morning in a hotel rom bed, and that is just to say that I didn’t wake up to an 8 year-old bouncing on my bed and yelling at full volume, “Are you awake Mom?!!!!” Nope! This morning I woke up screaming “OH MY GOD! DID I SLEEP IN?” to no one. It’s like a vacation!
This week’s podcast episode is a gift, as I talked to The Daily Show’s Desi Lydic about being great dads, how to navigate kid’s birthday invitations, and the most embarrasing thing our children have yelled on the playground. Check it out HERE. And here’s a tease below!
I’ll admit I have not been in a great headspace. Something about this December specifically has been hard - a mixture of personal challenges and the obvious impact of the greater world around us. There is a lot of uncertainty in my life right now, financial worry, family concerns, and maybe a lack of sun? I thought for a minute when I started to slide into depression that I was just getting my period - I’ve never used an app to track my period. I usually just wait until I hate my husband and feel a deep sense of failure - and think, “Okay, it’s any day now!” But that’s not what is or was going on.
I was on the train to a gig in Wilmington, Delaware reading this essay about how the unexpected kindness of a stranger turned everything around for the writer, in the sense that it gave her a mental reset and switched her perspective. I selfishly thought, “I’d like that. I’d like a stranger to do something amazing for me.” Since I arrived early in Wilmington, I thought, I’ll walk up the main street downtown, find a good coffee, and hit Walgreens to buy some deodorant. I know - WHAT A FUN-FILLED PLAN!
I gotta tell you, I love a Walgreens. Not a NYC Walgreens. New York City Walgreens are tight, hectic, and chaotic places. No, I mean a suburban Walgreens.
Every aisle in a suburban Walgreens is a wonderland of awakened needs and wants. “Ahhh yes, I need to take Vitamin D, oh jumbo lavender body soap, organic dryer sheets and organic chicken broth! A new energy drink! Oh how I love Cadbury’s chocolate… what’s this? Fleece socks with little heaters in them?! Yes, please!
Give me an edible and a promotional holiday aisle - and I’ll see you in a few hours. JOY!
Recently, I was in a suburban Walgreens late at night and a woman working there followed me around the store, attempting to offer customer service. It caught me off guard when she asked, “Are you finding everything you need?” I barked at her, “WHAT?!” And then she asked again. “I was just wondering if you found everything you needed today?” The question stopped me in my tracks. What an interesting query. Did I find everything I needed today… Well, let’s see, it’s almost midnight, and I’m in Walgreens buying ice cream, so … no. No. I think we can agree, I didn’t find anything I needed today.
That’s why I’m here.
I had high hopes for the Wilmington Walgreens, but I found out that Wilmington’s downtown is one of those downtowns that shuts down at 4 pm on a Saturday. But the Walgreens was open, so I thought, I’ll still go and get myself a travel-size deodorant. How I love a travel section - all those little bottles transport me to tropical vacations and exotic locales that, who knows, I might have to go to soon, right?!
As I walk in, I’m not so much greeted by a customer service representative but a security guard, and I realize this Walgreens has a bouncer. Shit is weird everywhere. I know many businesses are struggling to deal wide-spread theft. I grew up working in my parent’s grocery store, where I witnessed customers, staff, and wholesalers trying to steal all the time. Seriously - I’d have to ask the guy who delivered the milk to unpack all of his crates from the dolly because he would say, but then there would be one missing from the middle of a crate stacked beneath another. It became part of the job to assume that whomever you were dealing with MIGHT be stealing from you.
Back at Walgreens, the travel-sized section is a bit sad. It hadn’t been restocked in ages: all those cubbies containing products for my future fantasy trips were empty, but there were two travel-sized deodorants left, so I grabbed one, and decided to swing by their school supply section. You see, I have a thing for notebooks, and I’m very specific. I don’t like anything fancy. I want a medium-sized, spiral-bound, soft-cover, low-key notebook with good-quality lined paper. And they have ONE. Just one. Meant for me.
I brought my two items to the cashier, who took a few minutes to ring them up and then said, “$1.79”. I looked at my purchase and replied, “Well, that’s an unbelievable deal!” And she said, “Yeah, well, I can’t find that in the system, so I’m just giving you the notebook for free. I just don’t have the time right now.” I looked around. There was no one else in the store, just me, her, 3 security guards, plus the bouncer – and 90% of the store was under lock and key. I’m okay with it if she’s okay with it. If I worked there, I would want to give every customer a free toothpaste because those are all locked away too, meaning… people need toothpaste, for god sake.
As I shuffled around my bag for cash, I said, “This notebook is exactly what I want, so THANK YOU!” I found a dollar bill in my purse and dove back in to find more, but the cashier said, “A dollar is just fine.” While glancing around at the security guards and cameras everywhere, I asked if she was sure and she smiled back and said “Happy Holidays.”
“Thank you so much. You made my day”. And I left. I didn’t need a bag.
Whether she knew it or not, that cashier gave me exactly the gift I wanted. I found an empty seat at a nearby bar (there was no coffee to be found), opened my perfect notebook, and wrote all about her, and the unexpected gift from my Walgreens Cashier Claus. Now that’s customer service.
I hope you get what you want this holiday season! Don’t miss this week’s wonderful episode with Desi Lydic. Next week, I’m joined by an AGT finalist and comedian Gina Brillon who is also in a holiday movie you can watch right now!
And more holiday audio treats will be coming your way soon. See you next week. Stay strong, holiday warriors.
If you could have any gift, what would you want? Let's start with something one could just buy with money. I would choose... one more room in my apartment!