Being a good listener is a part of great customer service.

What would you do if a customer came up and started talking to you about things that had nothing to do with your job or the place where you worked? Would you find an excuse to walk away, or would you lend a listening ear?

This teenage boy was working a summer job in Finland. He was stocking shelves in a grocery store when a Canadian woman started talking to him about topics like politics, Canada’s economy, and other serious stuff.

Check out the full story below to see what happened.

Ma’am I’m just 14

I live in Finland, and I was 14 years old when this happened.

When you turn 14 in Finalnd, you can get a 2-week summer job 6 hours per day for 10 days, and no weekends.

This teenage boy was approached by a Canadian woman.

About 4 days into working, I was stocking shelves in the Nut and Cereal aisle.

I was with 2 other summer workers.

At some point, this Canadian woman (I’ll call her C for Canadian) came up.

She asked if I speak English.

I said, “Yes, and how can I help you?”

She talked to him about politics and some other serious stuff about Canada.

Well, when C realized that I could speak English, she started talking politics and how bad the economic situation in Canada is for a few minutes.

When C finally stopped, her husband arrived who was also Finnish. He was also from the same town I was.

He greeted me, looked at his wife, grabbed the nuts they were looking for, and left.

He told his coworkers what happened, and they all had a laugh about it.

C looked at me, and said that she hopes she will see me in Canada some day. Then C thanked me for helping.

I just smiled and said have a great day.

Then, I turned to the other workers told them what happened, and we laughed for a while.

She must have really needed someone to talk to.

Let’s see how other people reacted to this story on Reddit.

This user shares their personal thoughts.

Nice play on words from this person.

This person gives their honest opinion.

And finally, another sensible remark.

Some customers are just looking for someone who will listen to them.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.