This is a (lengthy) story about how a grocery store clerk named Alex and some bean sprouts saved Christmas! Or, rather, he saved a dinner that my sister and I made around Christmastime.
OK, so he didn't save it at all. But he did improve it slightly.
I spent the week at my sister Betsy's house (apologies for the pseudonyms, sibs, I'm not terribly original and I don't want to use real names) for Christmas. She's the one with the adorable twins. My other sister Maggie came from out of state to visit, and I also got to spend some time with my brother, sister-in-law, and equally adorable nephew.
My parents? Decided to spend Christmas across the country. Literally, almost about as far away as you can get. But that's a whole other story . . .
Anyway, so since my Betsy was putting us up and making an amazing Christmas meal (all with 7 month old twins!), Maggie and I decided to make dinner for her and her husband. Now, neither Maggie nor I are any good at cooking. I make exactly three meals that I will allow other people to consume other than myself. So I pulled out one of them (Thai lettuce wraps - delicious) and Maggie and I went to the grocery store to do some shopping.
It was a few days before Christmas, so the grocery store was naturally quite crowded. Now, Maggie and I are totally out of our element, and in an unfamiliar grocery store at that. At my normal grocery store, I know where every item is, and I can proceed in a methodical fashion. I generally start with produce, and work my way over, missing no necessary aisle and rarely backtracking. The whole process, from cart-grabbing to checking out usually takes about 10-20 minutes.
This was nothing like that.
We spend about a good 20 minutes in produce alone, wandering around, searching carefully (and blindly missing what was before our very eyes) and haphazardly crossing things off the list. We spent a good 10 minutes looking for ginger root. We also could not find the bean sprouts.
Maggie pulled aside an Oh-So-Friendly Sales Clerk who, as it turns out, works in the deli, not produce. He very nicely showed us to the ginger, but did not know where to find the bean sprouts. So we searched a little longer, and had just about given up, when this Oh-So-Friendly Sales Clerk (also known as Alex) found us again, and showed us where the bean sprouts SHOULD be located. Alas, they were not there, so we resigned ourselves to a bean-sprout-less meal.
I think that may be the first time I have ever used the term bean-sprout-less. I'm not certain if I'm feeling the hyphens though. Bean sprout-less? Bean sproutless? Beansproutless? Um, yeah, I think I'll stick with my original plan. Bean-sprout-less it is.
But I digress . . . anyway, we made our way through the aisles erratically, jumping around (even returning to produce on more than one occasion). I believe we were at the baking aisle, when our good friend Alex came to find us! He found the bean sprouts! Right this way! We returned to produce (and not for the last time) and he told us how he had gone into the back to get them, then wandered through the store to find us! Hurray! Christmas was saved!!
Well, not really, but we were still really happy. Or, I was. Maggie was a little hesitant to eat bean sprouts, but I didn't hear any complaints when they turned out delicious!
This story is getting a little lengthy. Indulge me.
So, we checked out, with Maggie cracking hilarious jokes about the diapers we were buying and my nighttime incontinence (the saleswoman didn't find it funny either, don't worry) and I decided to share a little of the Christmas spirit with my good friend Alex.
So we approached customer service, and I told a manager about how nice Alex was and how he went out of his way to help my sister and me. I figure that would be the end of it. Oh no, it wasn't! The manager asked me to hang on, please. He got on the phone and over the PA system to announce that Alex from deli had just gotten a compliment from a customer. He then went on to say how they should all strive to provide this level of customer service. By now I am bright red and people are staring at me. But OH NO, he continues! He then goes, and thank you, MA'AM, for coming up to us and letting us know. Happy holidays!
OK, really, ma'am? I'm 26 and look like I'm 18. No really, I get asked what school I go to. My reply is usually "I teach school, and I'm getting my master's degree." It's not a sore subject, I swear. We're not in the South, you can call me Miss or something.
Well, anyway, I hope my friend Alex got a bonus or something. And I hope all of you found your bean sprouts this holiday season!
Oh yeah, and the dinner? Thai lettuce wraps? They were a huge success. I owe it all to the bean sprouts.
OK, so he didn't save it at all. But he did improve it slightly.
I spent the week at my sister Betsy's house (apologies for the pseudonyms, sibs, I'm not terribly original and I don't want to use real names) for Christmas. She's the one with the adorable twins. My other sister Maggie came from out of state to visit, and I also got to spend some time with my brother, sister-in-law, and equally adorable nephew.
My parents? Decided to spend Christmas across the country. Literally, almost about as far away as you can get. But that's a whole other story . . .
Anyway, so since my Betsy was putting us up and making an amazing Christmas meal (all with 7 month old twins!), Maggie and I decided to make dinner for her and her husband. Now, neither Maggie nor I are any good at cooking. I make exactly three meals that I will allow other people to consume other than myself. So I pulled out one of them (Thai lettuce wraps - delicious) and Maggie and I went to the grocery store to do some shopping.
It was a few days before Christmas, so the grocery store was naturally quite crowded. Now, Maggie and I are totally out of our element, and in an unfamiliar grocery store at that. At my normal grocery store, I know where every item is, and I can proceed in a methodical fashion. I generally start with produce, and work my way over, missing no necessary aisle and rarely backtracking. The whole process, from cart-grabbing to checking out usually takes about 10-20 minutes.
This was nothing like that.
We spend about a good 20 minutes in produce alone, wandering around, searching carefully (and blindly missing what was before our very eyes) and haphazardly crossing things off the list. We spent a good 10 minutes looking for ginger root. We also could not find the bean sprouts.
Maggie pulled aside an Oh-So-Friendly Sales Clerk who, as it turns out, works in the deli, not produce. He very nicely showed us to the ginger, but did not know where to find the bean sprouts. So we searched a little longer, and had just about given up, when this Oh-So-Friendly Sales Clerk (also known as Alex) found us again, and showed us where the bean sprouts SHOULD be located. Alas, they were not there, so we resigned ourselves to a bean-sprout-less meal.
I think that may be the first time I have ever used the term bean-sprout-less. I'm not certain if I'm feeling the hyphens though. Bean sprout-less? Bean sproutless? Beansproutless? Um, yeah, I think I'll stick with my original plan. Bean-sprout-less it is.
But I digress . . . anyway, we made our way through the aisles erratically, jumping around (even returning to produce on more than one occasion). I believe we were at the baking aisle, when our good friend Alex came to find us! He found the bean sprouts! Right this way! We returned to produce (and not for the last time) and he told us how he had gone into the back to get them, then wandered through the store to find us! Hurray! Christmas was saved!!
Well, not really, but we were still really happy. Or, I was. Maggie was a little hesitant to eat bean sprouts, but I didn't hear any complaints when they turned out delicious!
This story is getting a little lengthy. Indulge me.
So, we checked out, with Maggie cracking hilarious jokes about the diapers we were buying and my nighttime incontinence (the saleswoman didn't find it funny either, don't worry) and I decided to share a little of the Christmas spirit with my good friend Alex.
So we approached customer service, and I told a manager about how nice Alex was and how he went out of his way to help my sister and me. I figure that would be the end of it. Oh no, it wasn't! The manager asked me to hang on, please. He got on the phone and over the PA system to announce that Alex from deli had just gotten a compliment from a customer. He then went on to say how they should all strive to provide this level of customer service. By now I am bright red and people are staring at me. But OH NO, he continues! He then goes, and thank you, MA'AM, for coming up to us and letting us know. Happy holidays!
OK, really, ma'am? I'm 26 and look like I'm 18. No really, I get asked what school I go to. My reply is usually "I teach school, and I'm getting my master's degree." It's not a sore subject, I swear. We're not in the South, you can call me Miss or something.
Well, anyway, I hope my friend Alex got a bonus or something. And I hope all of you found your bean sprouts this holiday season!
Oh yeah, and the dinner? Thai lettuce wraps? They were a huge success. I owe it all to the bean sprouts.
2 comments:
How lovely is that! I hope Alex got a bonus or a little something extra in his santa stocking.
Isn't that a great little story? I hope he got something extra as well, that's why I wanted to report it. Thanks for reading!
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