Rose's Lesson
My morning funk lasted until noon, I tried many things to get myself to feel alert and normal this morning. I drank a boatload of extra caffeine, I stretched, I even danced in the back office where no one could see. Then slowly, after my second meal (greek yogurt) which was late by an hour due to heavy customer flow, I started to feel normal again. I think I may be getting sick, my sinuses feel extra stuffy lately.
Then something amazing happened to change my bummer outlook on my weight loss. I have this particular customer, we'll call her Rose. I have helped her at every office I have worked at (except when I lived in Las Vegas). Rose has a very peculiar taste in eyeglasses, and prefers to wear the absolutely largest men's frame she can get her hands on. And I mean, 1970's big, the kind where your entire smile is beneath the lens. She also has a tendancy to be a little wishy-washy and go from optical to optical, deciding she's found exactly what she's looking for, and will return as soon as she...(fill in the blank; has money, has an eye surgery,has a ride, etc). She likes to book appointments for surgery and not show up, which is how my company ended up taking her, because she's been kicked out of several other surgical offices for not showing up for her appointment. I helped Rose select the perfect pair of glasses last Friday, and I ended up spending about an hour listening to her tell me of her financial and health woes (remember, my optical department is inside of a health clinic, so it reminds people of all the things wrong with them, not just their eyes) and she left my office thanking me for not trying to force her to change her mind and chose the "little glasses that everyone is so fond of". I knew that just by listening to her, she felt validated. She returned today for her sugical consult, a little late for her appointment, but she followed-through. Everyone was a bit irritated because not only was she late but she loves to talk your ear off. I admit, when I saw her check in for her appointment, I "hid" in my back office, busying myself with lab work, to avoid giving her the oportunity to stop and chat with me, making her appointment even later. When Rose finished with her appointment some time later, she breezed right past me, stopping only to ask me if I used to work at (name of place I worked at from 2001-2004) and I affirmed that I did, years ago. She said, "Wow, you used be a real big girl, you really lost a lot of weight!" I was stunned. Not only did she remember me from seven years ago, but in so much detail that she was aware how much weight I'd lost. She said she didn't want to impose, but was curious how I did it and I told her, even wrote the name of the book down for her. She complimented me again and again, and even congratulated me. I told her that she really made my day, and I meant it. Here the woman everyone was trying to avoid like the plague was the one who really changed my mindset today.
As she exited my office, there was a teenage boy in a wheelchair who was having problems maneuvering, and despite having bad knees/hips, Rose helped him get his chair positioned better.
I feel like an idiot for whining about my body image. Rose has a laundry list of problems, and though she may get lonely and want to share them with someone, she isn't whining about them, and she even finds time to think of someone other than herself. Lesson learned. So glad she's my customer!
Then something amazing happened to change my bummer outlook on my weight loss. I have this particular customer, we'll call her Rose. I have helped her at every office I have worked at (except when I lived in Las Vegas). Rose has a very peculiar taste in eyeglasses, and prefers to wear the absolutely largest men's frame she can get her hands on. And I mean, 1970's big, the kind where your entire smile is beneath the lens. She also has a tendancy to be a little wishy-washy and go from optical to optical, deciding she's found exactly what she's looking for, and will return as soon as she...(fill in the blank; has money, has an eye surgery,has a ride, etc). She likes to book appointments for surgery and not show up, which is how my company ended up taking her, because she's been kicked out of several other surgical offices for not showing up for her appointment. I helped Rose select the perfect pair of glasses last Friday, and I ended up spending about an hour listening to her tell me of her financial and health woes (remember, my optical department is inside of a health clinic, so it reminds people of all the things wrong with them, not just their eyes) and she left my office thanking me for not trying to force her to change her mind and chose the "little glasses that everyone is so fond of". I knew that just by listening to her, she felt validated. She returned today for her sugical consult, a little late for her appointment, but she followed-through. Everyone was a bit irritated because not only was she late but she loves to talk your ear off. I admit, when I saw her check in for her appointment, I "hid" in my back office, busying myself with lab work, to avoid giving her the oportunity to stop and chat with me, making her appointment even later. When Rose finished with her appointment some time later, she breezed right past me, stopping only to ask me if I used to work at (name of place I worked at from 2001-2004) and I affirmed that I did, years ago. She said, "Wow, you used be a real big girl, you really lost a lot of weight!" I was stunned. Not only did she remember me from seven years ago, but in so much detail that she was aware how much weight I'd lost. She said she didn't want to impose, but was curious how I did it and I told her, even wrote the name of the book down for her. She complimented me again and again, and even congratulated me. I told her that she really made my day, and I meant it. Here the woman everyone was trying to avoid like the plague was the one who really changed my mindset today.
As she exited my office, there was a teenage boy in a wheelchair who was having problems maneuvering, and despite having bad knees/hips, Rose helped him get his chair positioned better.
I feel like an idiot for whining about my body image. Rose has a laundry list of problems, and though she may get lonely and want to share them with someone, she isn't whining about them, and she even finds time to think of someone other than herself. Lesson learned. So glad she's my customer!
Comments
Post a Comment