A few days ago while eat my job I had a parent come in who I could tell was upset. She was trying her best to keep it together and asked for me to call her child down to the office so they could take their medication. They had jetted out of the house so quick to school they forgot to take it. So I call her child down and afterwards she asked if anyone could assist her with her car because she had accidentally locked her keys inside. I called maintenance to the office and they went outside with her to see if they could help. About five minutes later I informed my principal that I would go outside to see how they were doing and I if they weren't successful in helping that I was going to use a membership card that I had to assist and ask for car assistance.
So after a few minutes outside with them I decided to make the call and they stated that they would be on their way within 45 minutes. So I suggested to her that we go back inside to the office since it was chilly outside. While we were waiting I brought her a water and offered to make her some coffee. She appreciated both and called her job to let them know that she would be running late. I could tell she was still sad and with my crazy self and Dorenda we were able to give her a few laughs. I turned on some jazz music because I love filling the office with a soothing sound.
Eventually about 25 minutes later I received the text that someone was on their way and that we should make our way to her vehicle. So as we leave the office and are making our way down the steps, I ask her again how she is doing and she asks if it's ok for her to tell me what is going on with her day. I ensure her absolutely and when she broke down and informed me of her news. As we were exiting I was processing over the information she shared with me and could totally understand how she could be so frazzled and have accidentally locked her keys in her car.
I tell her everything is going to be alright and we see the roadside asstiance vehicle and meet them at her vehicle. Within less than 3 minutes, this man had her car door open. My mouth dropped and I told him I had to shake his hand because I had NEVER seen anyone open a car that damn fast. Well he informs us that he is a pro by now especially since he has been doing it LEGALLY for 20 years.!!! Apparently he started illegally around the age of 14, so he figured he might as well get paid for it and has love his job ever since.
So as he is checking my membership info she thanks me for my hospitality, kindness and just putting a smile on her face. She asked if she could give me a hug and I told her absolutely. She said she felt better getting her issue off her chest and felt a big weight just came off her shoulders. We parted ways and I was just smiling to myself and thinking sometimes the best thing you can do for someone is just be there and listen.
Now the hilarious part to this story is the day AFTER my kind act, I received a letter from my roadside assistance company informing me that I had used up 3 of my 4 allowed services. Well the 4th use had been used with my helping the parent out. So..... I have officially maxed out my services until next July. So even thought I can still call them, I will just get charged. But I'm okay with that. It's not the norm for me to use my membership on anyone else and honestly that was my first time doing so. So on that note let me just get this out right now, if anyone calls now and asks unfortunately to take advantage of my membership they are just shit out of luck because I'm not going to incur anyone elses charges on my account and that was a kind act. LOL
Bottom line and moral of this story, if you see someone not having a good day, sometimes the best thing you can do is just listen.
