Would You Like That Gift-Wrapped?

I'll be away from my computer for a few days, so there probably won't be any contributions to my blog until Christmas Eve. Come back then. I have a good story, I promise. Hope you enjoy today's.

I have had the good fortune to have many jobs in my life. Some have fitted rather well. Others have not.

When I was in high school, I got a Christmas job at Morse Jewellers in Northtown Plaza in Willowdale. Why they hired me is anyone’s guess. I don’t wear any jewellery. I have no sense on what looks nice or not. After a few weeks of working there, a tally of the sales figures showed that I wasn’t much more than a warm body in the store.

Being a people person, I enjoyed meeting the customers. I remember selling a lot of British Sterling after-shave to women wanting something special for their husbands. When they pondered whether he might like it, I would indicate to them that while their man might be wearing the after-shave, it was really a purchase for their pleasure, since they would be the ones smelling it.

Having low sales was bad enough, but something happened that made my boss very angry.

A girl about 8 years old came into the store to buy a special Christmas gift for her mother. She had $5. That was all - $5. There were very few items you could get at Morse Jewellers for $5 or less. We searched high and low, from side to side, and inside and out to find the handful of gifts for that price. We found a few.

When you have lots of money, it usually is easy to find what you want and pay for it. Often it is the inexpensive gifts that you have to think about. You want the best value for your money. That little girl and I spent about half an hour weighing the merits of each item. She finally decided.

I asked her, “Would you like that gift-wrapped?” She gushed, “Yes. Would you?” I said, “Of course!”

I put her trinket in a nice blue box, wrapped gold paper around it and put a bow on it. My boss, George, was watching me like a vulture looking at roadkill.

When I was finished serving the girl and she exited the store, he called me into the back room. He explained that I should never have spent so much time with such a small sale when other customers were waiting, and that gift-wrapping such a “cheap” gift was a waste of money.

My reply was that while that gift may have been “cheap” to him, it was much, much more valuable to that little girl.

Then I asked him to consider that in about 15 years that little girl would be a grown woman. Since I gave her such good service and treated her like the most important customer in the store, didn’t he think that she might come back when she needed, perhaps, an engagement ring?

While I expected to be fired for my reply, I could see that he understood my logic.

There are no guarantees in life, it is only when you give your very best at what you do, you can expect the very best in return. To be noticed, you can’t do the ordinary, you have to do the extraordinary. Finally, showing love is not doing what is expected of you. It is doing well beyond what is expected of you. It is giving everything you can.