We love our previous owner. She lives out west now. Our Lansdowne domicile was her home (and previously the home of her mother) dating back to the 1920's! When we came on board, there were still rotary phones in here (weighing in at about 53 pounds each). If I wanted to I could have called Commissioner Gordon anytime I wanted to. I think rotary phones are going to come back on the scene. They just have to! Our phones are too small today. They're as thin as a stick of Juicy Fruit! It's like talking into a toothpick.There was a story in the paper about a teenager who was talking on her cell phone and it slipped right into her ear canal! (Now she just has to think about sending a text message and pow! off it goes). That's cool and everything, but a rotary phone.... ah! there's a phone you can depend on! Big, bold and brassy, you know just where to find it. And it can hold papers down too..... and small children.
Back to the showerhead...
I figured I would go to a store that would house all of my needs in one convenient location. I knew inevitably that other "needs" would surface (we also "needed" a CD/DVD rack thingee, an alarm clock, and a really cool candle with three, that's right THREE wicks). All of these varied items, I knew deep down, could be found at....
!!!Now here's why I'm blogging about this seemingly mundane experience (mind you, in lieu of this week's Mission Moment, there are NO mundane experiences. See below): from the moment I entered "BED, BATH, AND BEYOND!!" I was greeted and affirmed as a human person. It was down right overwhelming! I'm not referring here to the usual "Have a nice day" that dribbles out of the corner of a cashier's face because THEY WILL BE FIRED IF THEY DON'T SAY IT. I'm talking about, in the midst of this ME ME ME generation, a sincere and selfless concern for.... me..... came flowing out of every employee's soul at
!
From around every corner of the store, happy and aproned employees were looking me straight in the eye and asking me if I needed anything, if I found everything OK... did I want to sit down and just talk about my needs today. It was amazing. It was refreshing! I was proud to be a consumer! I was no longer a cog in the wheel, just a tiny piece of the puzzle that is the American economy. I was a PERSON! At last!
Maybe that's why they call it Bed, Bath, and... Beyond?
Even as I closed off the purchases with the cashier, I was affronted by extreme measures of kindness:
"Do you have any coupons?"
"Well, no.... I left 'em at home."
"No problem, you can always bring in your receipt later with the coupon and get the refund."
Whaaaaa!!!!! That was so ..... nice.
So just to let you know, dear readers, there is still a place where basic human kindness is practiced. Heck, it flourishes! And in this place you can also pick up a sweet Oxygenics® Five-Star Resort Spa Chrome Fixed Shower Head! That thing kicks like karate!
________________________
This week's Mission Moment:
Holy is the dish and drain, the soap and sink, and the cup and plate and the warm wool socks, and the cold white tile, showerheads and good dry towels and frying eggs sound like psalms, with bits of salt measured in my palm. It’s all a part of a sacrament, as holy as a day is spent...
- Carrie Newcomer
3 comments:
On my first visit to that store I thought it should have been named "Bed Bath and Bewildered" it had so much to look at! :)
Hi Bill,
I enjoy reading your blog entries and have been very touched by many of them. Often I've thought of responding but never do. But today i couldn't resist. I am a firm believer in the power of kindness and like you I am always amazed when i encounter it in the marketplace. I have literally been brought to tears when Ive had the rare experience of getting a customer service rep who truly listens and responds to me. But what mostly prompted me to write this time is that i wanted to share with you a quote form a spiritual teacher who has dome great ministry with prisoners. His name is Bo Lozoff and he and his wife Sita are directors of the Human Kindness Foundation. I was filing things from the pile on my desk yesterday and came across his brochure. I didn't file it away because I loved the quote on the back and instead posted it on my bulletin board. Here it is: "There is no spiritual practice more profound than being kind to one's family, neighbors, the cashier at the grocery store, an unexpected visitor, the con in the next cell, a stray cat or dog,or any other of the usually "irrelevant" or "invisible" beings who may cross our paths in the course of a normal day. Certainly there are spiritual mysteries beyond description to explore, but as we mature, it becomes clear that those special experiences are only meaningful when they arise from and return to a life of ordinary kindness." - Bo Lozoff
Peace to you...
Thanks, sounds like a great place to shop! By the way, we moved into our house in 1968 - when Jack went to remove a chandelier in the living room, we smelled gas. The chandelier was connected to an old gas light pipe - there were gas light pipes in several rooms and the kids would throw towels on the one in the bathroom and we'd hang things on various ones throughout the house. Little did we know, there was live gas in them!! We had many other adventures with the old house, and we still love it.
Good luck with the radiothon.
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