It's What We Learn, Not How We Learn It
I have a friend that I work with (work, again; why does everything happen at work for me, haha?) who is possibly one of the strongest people i have ever met.
She's also one of the most chatty people I've ever met. And, while she's not one to talk about her past as much as what's happening right this very second, we'd eventually spent so many breaks and lunches together talking about how rude people could be or how cute a customer was (she's much older than me, but we apparently share a certain amount of interest in guys directly between our ages) that there was nothing left to say.
But with Kate, there's always something left to say.
And so we started talking about her past.
She's had it pretty rough. Her childhood wasn't exactly privileged. Every single one of her five (or maybe it's six?) siblings has a different last name; take what you will from that. She went from this to marrying her (now ex) husband who was the musician stereotype in every way. It was drugs and booze, sex and scandal from day one.
She had two kids with this guy, a girl and then a boy with severe ADHD, a phobia of thunderstorms so severe that he hides in closets still at eleven and outrageous nosebleeds.
She and her (ex) husband decided that they should get a divorce (her reason for this was vague at best), and he kicked her out. She was working at Wal-Mart at the time, and there was no way she could pay for an apartment with the kind of money she was making. She lost custody of her kids without a place for them to stay, and she was on the streets.
She's cleaned up since then, moved in with a guy (who I do not like at all, but that is a different story) and gets to see her kids regularly.
Kate is honestly one of the best people I know. I've seen her go to bat for just about everyone she works with against the managers. She takes a stand and is loud about what she believes in. She won't let even the managers keep her down (and they hate that; they're constantly trying to fire her because of it, but we have a union and you can't fire people just because they tell you what they think, so ha.) She busts her butt trying to keep everyone on the floor happy, including customers. She talks to everyone she sees, and the people love her dearly.
One customer wrote a book of daily devotionals/pick-me-ups and actually dedicated it to Kate, giving her the second copy printed (the first went to his daughter).
Honestly, the managers would be crazy to fire her; I think half of our customers come just to see Kate.
I was reminded of this story because of this: Yesterday night, Kate was the supervisor for the check out lanes and general front end happenings. I watched her pay for a lady's prescriptions when the woman wouldn't have been able to afford them otherwise.
She was homeless a few years ago. She still struggles a lot financially. But she bought a lady's prescriptions anyway.
Kate's kindness and perseverance gives me hope. :)
She's also one of the most chatty people I've ever met. And, while she's not one to talk about her past as much as what's happening right this very second, we'd eventually spent so many breaks and lunches together talking about how rude people could be or how cute a customer was (she's much older than me, but we apparently share a certain amount of interest in guys directly between our ages) that there was nothing left to say.
But with Kate, there's always something left to say.
And so we started talking about her past.
She's had it pretty rough. Her childhood wasn't exactly privileged. Every single one of her five (or maybe it's six?) siblings has a different last name; take what you will from that. She went from this to marrying her (now ex) husband who was the musician stereotype in every way. It was drugs and booze, sex and scandal from day one.
She had two kids with this guy, a girl and then a boy with severe ADHD, a phobia of thunderstorms so severe that he hides in closets still at eleven and outrageous nosebleeds.
She and her (ex) husband decided that they should get a divorce (her reason for this was vague at best), and he kicked her out. She was working at Wal-Mart at the time, and there was no way she could pay for an apartment with the kind of money she was making. She lost custody of her kids without a place for them to stay, and she was on the streets.
She's cleaned up since then, moved in with a guy (who I do not like at all, but that is a different story) and gets to see her kids regularly.
Kate is honestly one of the best people I know. I've seen her go to bat for just about everyone she works with against the managers. She takes a stand and is loud about what she believes in. She won't let even the managers keep her down (and they hate that; they're constantly trying to fire her because of it, but we have a union and you can't fire people just because they tell you what they think, so ha.) She busts her butt trying to keep everyone on the floor happy, including customers. She talks to everyone she sees, and the people love her dearly.
One customer wrote a book of daily devotionals/pick-me-ups and actually dedicated it to Kate, giving her the second copy printed (the first went to his daughter).
Honestly, the managers would be crazy to fire her; I think half of our customers come just to see Kate.
I was reminded of this story because of this: Yesterday night, Kate was the supervisor for the check out lanes and general front end happenings. I watched her pay for a lady's prescriptions when the woman wouldn't have been able to afford them otherwise.
She was homeless a few years ago. She still struggles a lot financially. But she bought a lady's prescriptions anyway.
Kate's kindness and perseverance gives me hope. :)