Target Tales #2: A TP Photo Op Reminded Me About Kindness

My mom and I were picking up a few things on Saturday at Target. We'd hoped to find milk, my favorite Buffalo Wing Pretzel Crisps, coffee creamer, and a few other items for dinner. We'd had success with our list and decided, as many of us do when we're out shopping, to see if there were any toilet paper or paper towels.

We were at the end of the aisle where I saw an older man sitting in a motorized shopping cart, using his phone to take the photo, that many of us have, of an empty toilet paper aisle.

He saw me looking down the aisle as well and started reached his hand up to the electronic console and move out of my way.

I abruptly interrupted his move, "No, you don't need to move. I'm capturing the same photo you are, sir."

He looked up and smiled. "Oh, really?"

I nodded. It was at that moment that I decided to pause. I wondered did he need toilet paper. I wondered if this was his trip to gather the supplies, so many Americans are trying to find. I wondered if we might be the only human interaction he'd have and if so, we needed to make it count. We needed to stop and listen to him so I smiled.

"I live in _____ (a suburb about 45 minutes away). I used to live in _____ (about 20 minutes away). I lived there until my wife died."

"I'm sorry," I quickly muttered.

"It's okay. That was two years ago. Now I live with my son. He lives in ______ (aforementioned city). Today I was out in _____ (the same town he used to live in) helping my friend with a technology problem. I thought I'd stop on the way home and see if there was any toilet paper here. We can't find it for us. Guess we're not the only ones."

"No, you're not," I smiled.

He went onto tell us about the other stores he'd visited that afternoon. He had found some toilet paper at Aldi. He found paper towels at Dollar Tree.

"And I found all of this here," as he gestured toward his basket filled with some milk and a few other perishable items. "I found everything I needed."

"I'm glad you did," I replied.

His eyes twinkled as he said, "Me too."

"Take care. Wishing you and your family well, sir."

"Thank you. You, too," he responded.

Each time I've gone out since then, which I'm trying to avoid altogether, but when I do, I've tried to pause and show a little more kindness. I've been making more eye contact. I've been saying thank you to people stocking our shelves or those working at the drive-thru. It's these small moments that, during hard times, make a big difference, genuinely making sure we all find everything we need.

* I did not capture a photo that day but I think I captured something much more important.

Target Tales #1: Hand Sanitizer Search

Target Tales are stories or poems from my observations of and interactions with fellow shoppers at the retail store Target. 

"It's NOT here," shouted a woman with a voice that's seen a lot of whatever she was looking before.

"What???" questioned an older gentleman.

"I said, IT'S NOT HERE!"

I continued down the central aisle and found the source of the loud shouting, I mean conversation—an elderly couple, pushing a cart down the handsoap aisle.

"But it should be by the soap. It's hand sanitizer. Jenny told us to buy it," said the older gentleman.

"I know Bob. I heard her, too, but we can't buy it if it's not here."

Hand sanitizer was my Target list too. The hand sanitizer was hiding at the end cap of the hand soap aisle.

As their conversation continued, I tuned out and stared at the options in the bins before me. Small travel-sized bottles. Blue goo and green too. A peach variety and original unscented. I wanted to choose a scented sanitizer but decided on the generic unscented one. Why this choice? I thought ironically; the hand sanitizer would probably be the products that held the most significant number of germs on them in the entire store, with so many people picking bottles up at Target to combat the recent Coronavirus U.S. outbreak and its news coverage. I decided unscented was the best option because selecting it involved the least amount of touching the bottles.

The woman saw me and her back straightened.

"Bob. That lady over there has some."

"What?" called Bob.

"I said THAT LADY OVER THERE HAS SOME BOB," hollered the woman.

The couple shuffled over to the hand sanitizer and additional hand soap aisle.

I smiled at the couple as they moved closer to me.

The woman smiled back.

She looked up and down and noticed that there were only travel-sized bottles.

"Bob, they only have those tiny bottles. We need big ones."

"Why? We can just buy a bunch of those small ones."

At this point, I asked, "Do you need some help?"

The woman said, "No, you aren't wearing a red shirt. You don't work here."

I replied, "You're right, I don't, but I'd be happy to help you."

"Thanks, but no thanks. You've got places to go," as she turned back to discuss the bottle-size dilemma, Bob.

I smiled, and although I had no place in particular to go, said, "Well, then have a nice day."

They didn't reciprocate the farewell because, at that point, Bob had asked her what I asked his wife. 

I hope they found the big bottles of hand sanitizer for their peace of mind and Jenny's too.