I came across a story by Ryan Katz and Tara Boyle posted on npr.org that dealt with Stephanie Cole’s first day on her very first job as a teenager. It was the height of the Christmas shopping rush, and she was working as a retail clerk in a busy department store in Los Angeles during the 1960s. When a woman walked up to her cash register to purchase a Christmas tree ornament, Stephanie froze—she couldn’t remember how to operate her register. She was on the verge of tears when the woman looked at her kindly and said, “It’s all right. Take your time. I’m not in a hurry.” At this point, she felt a sense of relief an knew everything was going to be okay. She hasn’t forgotten that woman’s kindness after all these years and offers the following advice: “You know, you encounter somebody who’s . . . just having a bad day and…you can tell they’re in a bad place, you can say, ‘It’s okay. I’m not in a hurry. Take your time.’ And it always makes the situation better. Always, always.”
