Adulthood's overrated. That means I've had a whole bunch of snark and rant inside me all day long.
The kids and I had an appointment for three of them to get their birthday month pictures taken today. I was frustrated because the June kids couldn't get theirs done on time because of C19 closures, the belated appointments were canceled because the location we go to is permanently closing, then we had to wait until the end of August to get in at another location. Finally picked a time that worked for everyone, including the August kid, then one kid ended up with a scheduling conflict, which meant moving the appointment to this afternoon, hitting the worst afternoon traffic, which I sat in as a not-so-relaxed passenger.
Basically, the appointment was the icing on the cake of a royally bad mood and super low tolerance for humanity.
I asked Lori, the employee who checked us in, if Tina was working there. Tina's done most of our kid and family pictures for the last 8-9 years at the closed location, so I knew it was possible she'd transferred. I told the gal it wasn't my favorite day, but that I'd mentioned to the little Ws on our way inside that I would be thrilled to walk in and see Tina there because of how long she's photographed our family. No such luck. She's not working there. Loris said she's been Tina's friend and co-worker for over 20 years, so she understood why we were hoping to see her.
We moved on. The summer birthday kids all got their pictures taken and I chose the ones to purchase. As I turned toward the counter to pay, Lori walked out of a back room with her phone extended and said, "Bethany, I have a surprise for you."
She had Tina on the screen!!
It makes me tear up to type that out now, but in the moment I was just super excited. Tina's photographed countless families over the years, so although she's familiar with our family, it's not like we're super close to her. But on our end, she's documented a lot of years of W life. We think she's great!
Seeing Tina's smile and hearing her laugh is a treat any day, but especially today. The kindness that Lori showed in letting us connect with her, in telling me she hoped the brief conversation made my rough day a little better, was awesome. And the fact they were professional the whole time (maintaining social distancing, no other customers around), while providing what I would call phenomenal customer service was just a bonus.
I'm still feeling pretty snarky and ranty, but that little snippet of my day was a gift. I'm grateful.
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