There are some customer that stand out and make you smile. They are what make the mundane tasks worth all the countless hours of mutinous work us associates put in. One of these customers shuffled into our store and into my heart on a rather chilly fall day, 4 years ago. Maybe it was the threadbare sweater he was wearing for a ridiculous excuse of a jacket, or the fact he was young, yet hunched over, walking with evident pain and the glasses he looked through seemed as thick as my hand.
“I need a coat.” He announced with confidence, “a good coat, a warm coat!”
I cringed inside as I watched his reaction to several of the jackets I showed him. We had good jackets, warm jackets, just not jackets with a comfortable price tag for someone living on a low fixed income. “Well…” He hesitated, looking around the store hopefully, “Do you ever have ones that go on sale, like, really really on sale?”
I knew what he was asking. I nodded, but was hesitant to get his hopes up, “Occasionally, we do get the odd coat in from a retail return, it would be 50 to 70% off.” I informed him but was careful to warn, “But those are few and far between.” That didn’t daunt his courageous spirit, “I will be back!” and with that, he left. Honestly, I didn’t think he would be back. I was pretty sure we had scared him off forever with our price tags. But about a week later, here he was again, and after fingering several coats longingly and checking the clearance wall, he waved to me with a smile on his face and the ever resounding phrase, “I will be back!”
That weekend, I came into work and there, on the 50% off rack was a beautiful, lush, thick, warm suede leather jacket. I pushed the other clothes away and studied it. It might be his size, I thought, but that price, even 50% off, would be a challenge for him. I hoped he would pop back into the store before the coat was gone. A jacket of that caliber and size wouldn’t last long, not with our customers who knew good quality when they saw it.
But, amazingly the coat remained untouched for an entire week or so when he finally came back in. To me, his sweater seemingly got thinner each time I talked to him. At first, I was afraid to show him the jacket, it felt almost as if I was dangling a bone in front of a starving dog. His face lit up as he grabbed the coat enthusiastically, stuttering in his excitement, “This, THIS is a coat yyyyou wait, yyyou wait a lifetime to buy! Right? I mean, people are so, are so fortunate to get a jacket like this, ever…like, seriously, ever!”
I bit my lip as I watched his animated reaction. Slipping it on, the jacket seemed to be custom made to fit his challenged and twisted physical frame. “How much?” He looked me squarely in the eyes, “How much for this?”
“Well...” I led off with the regular price but quickly quoted the sale price as I saw his face drop.
He gently removed the jacket and handed it back to me, slowly adding, “It might take me a lifetime to get that…” I could see the wheels turning in his mind, “But I could do it, you know?” He looked at me and hope seeped back into his eyes, “Yes, I can do it!” He smiled resiliently, “I will be back because THAT is my coat!”
I sighed as I hung it back on the rounder. It won’t take a lifetime to sell this leather beauty, I thought, he doesn't have much time.
Slowly, my co-workers caught on to the soap opera that was unfolding before our eyes as he came in, day after day to keep his hopes up and finger the elusive prize. His excitement was palpable about a week and a half later when he once more walked through our store doors. My co-worker handed him off to me with a smile: “Your coat boy is here!”
“I can get it…” Was his greeting, “Just a couple more dollars and I am there!” It was an attempted whisper, “Just a few more days and its going to be all mine.” I smiled at his drive. At this point, with coat still on that rack, I started to believe that this was really going to happen for him.
The next day, a lady walked in with a retail return. As she pulled it out of the bag, I wanted to gasp. My hands were trembling with excitment as I turned the suede leather slouch hat over in my hands, “was anything wrong with it?” I asked, returning the woman her money back. “No, it just didn’t look right with my husband’s sports jacket.” She replied, “Men are so picky, you know?” I nodded to her but was thinking the exact opposite. I knew one young man that hat would make very happy when he came in to get his coat. I rushed back to the rack and held up the hat against the coat, it was a matching set. I imagined the joy on his face when I would show it to him. Then it hit me like a sickening thud, if he only had enough money scrapped together for the coat…it might just be mean to show him the hat.
It was about 2 days later that he came in. I discovered him next to the clearance rounder, fingering the jacket. “Hey buddy!” I was glad to see him, “How are you today…” As soon as he turned and looked at me, I wished I could have retracted my words.
“I had this bill.” He turned away, his hand stroking the outside of the jacket, forlornly, “I didn’t know I had this bill…but I did.” His shoulders slumped forward in defeat. “I won’t be able to get this coat…” It was barely audible, “I knew it was too good for me.”
I stood beside him, conflicted in my own emotions. How many coats did I own? I glanced at him, it was a good 37 degrees outside and he was still wearing that stupid threadbare sweater I had first seen on him the first time he walked into the store.
“I should have known, this coat is for people who can afford it…people better than me, you know?” He looked away from me.
Not even knowing why I did, I pulled the leather hat off the shelf and laid it onto of the rounder next to the jacket, “This came in….the other day.” I felt instantly dumb. If he couldn’t afford the coat, why was I adding insult to injury?
His eyes locked on the hat and for the life of me, I never expected the reaction I got.
“It matches!” He said, in awe, “It matches that coat!” He picked it up, jammed it on his head and shuffled as fast as he possibly could over to the mirror. Of course it fit, why was I worried?
“I can get it!” He announced after hearing me quote the sale price. “It will remind me of the coat; it will remind me that I CAN get the same nice things other people get.” There was no trace of sadness in his voice now, “I will always remember the coat, but I will have the hat! That ssssilly, that ssssilly bill didn’t keep the best from me.” In his excitement, he was stuttering again as he turned and seemingly raced to the cash register in his halted, shuffling, yet proud walk.
For a moment I stood there like an unintelligent wall of frustrated emotion. My mind struggling to grasp the words he had just spoken, “I CAN get the same nice things other people get.” The thought of him going through the winter in nothing but that threadbare sweater make me sick. Without even thinking, I grabbed that suede leather jacket, pulled the cash out of my pocket, walked up to the register and in a daze, bought that beautiful warm jacket.
He was just reaching for the door when I called to him and handed him the bag with certain but trembling hands, “It’s a gift.” I didn’t know what else to say. For one uncomprehending moment, he stared at me and then reached for the bag with evident hesitation. As he pulled the jacket out, his face paled. I handed him the receipt, “See, it’s yours! Paid for in full. Because you are a very special young man.”
He looked up from the jacket he was clutching so tightly in his shaking hands. Unbelief stood out in his brown eyes, “How?” His head started to go from side to side, “That is tttoo much, tttooo much money for you…”
“No, you have to take it.” I pushed the coat further into his hands, “Please, I want you to have it, you deserve it.” I cleared my throat, trying to lighten the mood, “I mean, let’s be serious, that jacket was made for you!”
Slowly, indescribable joy flooded his features as he turned it over in his hands, “This is mine?!” It was more of a statement than a question. I grabbed a pair of scissors and snipped out the price tags, “Now put it on, it’s freezing outside!” I told him.
He looked up into my eyes and in that moment I experienced the overwhelming, yet humbling feeling of what it was to make someone absolutely and completely speechless.
His smiles threaten to split his face as he loving pulled on his new coat over that ugly nightmare of a sweater.
I turned away, completely overcome with emotion and walked back to the break room.
“Hey,” I turned to see tears in my store manager’s eyes, “What you did back there…” She pulled a $20 out of her pocket and pushed it into my hands, “Take it, please. I have never seen anything that beautiful in my life.” She turned and walked away. I stared down at the $20 in my hands, even without that $20, I felt incredibly and truly blessed.
4 years later, I was Christmas gift shopping with my husband and glanced up at a red light. To my surprise, there, at the crosswalk was my coat boy. The soft winter snow fell lightly on his frame that was wrapped warmly, to my contented conscience, in a thick suede leather coat, with the matching hat pulled snuggly over his head.
As we pulled away, my husband took my hand in his, “Why are you smiling?”
Why was I smiling? Because some customer you just never, ever forget.
