As you can probably imagine, I try to be friendly to people as I run my errands. There is so much anger and narcissism in this world that I figure I can make my little world around me better by being kind to other people. I do it for selfish reasons, if we want to get down to it. I’m tired of all of the crud that is going on in our world and by being friendly, I can live in my own little “happy bubble.”
Now, being friendly has had interesting consequences (that are kind of sad, too). For example, the day after I was laid off from the university, there was an elderly man who followed me around the grocery store telling me stories about his life and literally followed me out to the parking lot. I could tell that he was so hungry for someone to acknowledge that he was worth listening to. Besides telling me stories about his life in general, he also told me story after story about how he and his wife of 60 years had overcome hard times and that he believed that everything would be okay with me, too.
The first Friday Find that I’m going to tell you about is a direct consequence of being kind to strangers: I met the most delightful 91-year-old woman today at the grocery store. We had such a delightful conversation about cooking from scratch that Miss Louise and I exchanged phone numbers so that we can meet again. I asked her if I could interview her for the MRW blog and she said she would be honored. I am looking forward to having many wonderful conversations with Miss Louise.
HBIC's Wallets
You must get my second Friday Find. MRW reader HBIC (Head Bitch in Charge) makes these adorable receipt/coupon wallets and sells them on Etsy. They are made from modern oilcloth (light vinyl) and are absolutely perfect for using with The Envelope Method. Oh! And she sells them for a ridiculously reasonable price, too boot! Personally, I don’t know why she calls herself HBIC. In the short time that I’ve known her, she seems rather sweet and provided excellent service.
I have two of the wallets–a red gingham one and a strawberries one. I use the strawberry wallet as my grocery “envelope” and take the gingham wallet with me to the farmer’s market. What I like about using these wallets is that they are sturdy enough to endure being used as a wallet whereas paper envelopes seemed to be the worse for wear after a few weeks of use. They also enable me to quickly and easily find cash and coins without everyone else in line seeing how much money I have. If you decide to get one (or two or three), let HBIC know that you heard about them here. I think she will enjoy knowing that she is sending the wallets off to MRW kindred spirits.
Finally, my third find just makes me sad/appalled and long for the days when Mikey found out that he likes Life cereal. This Burger King commercial is just so offensive on so many levels. Perhaps we should expand the Quality Club to include media that doesn’t teach children how to objectify women.
What great things did you find today?
I usually find myself making friends at the grocery store too. One day I had the most delightful conversation with an elderly gentleman who had served in the same branch of service that my oldest 2 boys are in. He was thrilled to be able to talk about his time in the service and I enjoyed listening.
I’m with you on the BK commercial! I hope they’ll pull it soon.
I actually sent an email to BK’s CEO. Here’ the information for others who may feel the urge to write:
Mr. John W. Chidsey
Chief Executive Officer, Burger King Corporation
5505 Blue Lagoon Drive
Miami, FL 33126… Read More
Phone: 305-378-3000
Fax: 305-378-7262
His email: jchidsey@whopper.com
Twitter: Lidian
I can’t wait to read more about Miss Louise, she sounds wonderful!
And I will steel myself to play that BK clip later, I have to go out shopping (secondhand!) for stuff with eldest DD…it looks appalling just from the still shot though.
The Burger King guy with that plastic mask thing scares me! He is just downright creepy! *shudders*
The other day I was in line to check out at the grocery store and the cashier was trying very hard to be friendly to the woman in front of me. No matter what the cashier tried, the woman just rebuffed her. I felt bad for the cashier as I’ve worked with the public before and some people really do try your patience!!
It was my turn next and I said hello to her like I always do at the store. I could tell she was still a little hurt from the previous customer. I started chatting with her about her pretty engagement ring and just being nice to her in hopes of cheering her up. She finished up with my groceries, gave me my receipt and told me to have a nice day.
I told the bagger I didn’t need any help and pushed the cart out to the parking lot still holding the receipt in my left hand. I get out to my car and pop the trunk, and decide I should go ahead and put my receipt in my checkbook before I put the groceries in the car. My grocery store is playing a game where you get at least one game piece with each purchase and if you purchase certain items you can earn extra game pieces. I noticed that she had given me four game pieces and I looked at my receipt and chuckled to myself as I had only “earned” one game piece.
It pays to be nice!
Burger King lost my support when they started using that Freaky King. Even the kids are afraid of him. This last ad campaign is horrendous. I think McDonald’s is doing BKs advertising for them.
Thank you so much and I’m very pleased you liked the wallets!