Life at Dollar Alley

Dollar Store Encouragement

March 6, 2009 · 1 Comment

Life can seem kind of depressing if you look at the world around us. But it all depends on your point of view and how you respond to the world. Like if you’re pessimistic, the world around us will always be horrible and will continue to get worse. Or if you’re optimistic, there is still hope.

The same concept applies to the dollar store. If you’re pessimistic, you believe that everything that can go wrong will go wrong, and Murphy is the one to blame. If you’re optimistic, you accept the fact that Murphy is the evil lurking behind every store corner, but you try to remain hopeful that eventually he will turn to the good side.

I firmly believe the optimistic view is only the first half right, and we must fight against him by any means necessary to defeat this evil … including yelling, venting about him, and blaming him for everything.

 

But anyway …

 

What was I talking about?

 

Oh yes.

 

So if we all try our hardest to do a few little things, I believe that we can help to better our world. Maybe not economically, maybe not leadership-wise, but through changing one person’s life one day at a time. Besides isn’t that the only thing that is remembered?

There was this older lady who came in to buy a pair of reading glasses so she could read to her grandson. She was only a nickel short. She began digging through her purse, apologizing frantically to the woman behind her, “I’m sorry, I just really need these glasses, and I know there’s a nickel in here somewhere …” The lady behind her didn’t hesitate but pulled out a quarter and said, “Here, take her nickel out of that.”
    The older lady thanked her profusely, almost crying, “Thank you! Now I can read to my grandbaby. Oh thank you!”

  There was also a young guy that came in. He explained how he worked with mentally challenged people, and that one of the men always wished for a talking watch. So this young guy bought him one online, but he forgot that he needed to get it on a necklace. So he continued to buy a lanyard, although he planned to invest in another one that was a keychain, so that his patient would have two.

  Remember how sometimes you get to the store and they close, right as you go to open the store? (This happened to me once at Gander Mountain – except I was 15 minutes before they closed, and this random guy that no one knew stopped to talk to my friends and I for twenty minutes about a 24 point buck (unlikely story though).) So anyway, because I have experienced this, I often let people in just to grab something quick. The most hilarious, crazy old guy came in. He was very animated and just excited about life. You could watch him walk and talk and still smile because of his crazy antics. He was SO thankful that I let him he thanked me for making his day and wished me a good night, a good school day the next day, and a good life. I wasn’t expecting anything in return, but I felt blessed that this crazy old guy had made my day.

Categories: adventures
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1 response so far ↓

  • Carina // March 16, 2009 at 12:53 am | Reply

    Saturday, one of the NYRP cops (Erwin) was in
    Tom’s and he got a call on his radio that some kids
    were skateboarding on the sidewalks outside of
    Dollar Alley and he said he would go get them, but
    then another call came saying that another cop
    (Shititus) was nearby and that he would get them.
    So… if you were working that night and a cop
    came by and he was really tall, it was Shititus.

    I love knowing all the cops. :D They’re all really
    sweet guys. My favorite is Nick, but he’s a desk
    cop, so he comes in when he’s off.

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