In any situation, it can really help to think about the positive instead of dwelling on the negative.

For example, if you work retail, there are bound to be many crazy, stressful and frustrating customer interactions, but it’s better to focus on the sweet moments and kind customers.

One former retail employee shares three stories about their retail days, and they’re all sweet memories about favorite customers.

Keep reading for all the details.

What I miss about retail:

Ok, I have been freed from the shackles of retail for about a year, and I do love that. I travel now, I have closer relations with my coworkers, and I don’t deal with the general public.

But there are things I miss about retail, here are a few:

Repeat Customers:

The folks you help several times over a year or so.

Here’s one couple that stands out.

One young couple comes to mind. They were about 3-5 years older than me, newly married, first time homeowners who wanted a nice lawn.

I was 2 weeks into being the head of chemicals/grass seed so all I knew to do was kill the entire yard, till it and start over. I know now this could have been much easier on those two, but they were up for a challenge and I was the only one available to offer any advice.

They basically RoundUpped their entire lawn (know your active ingredients and save 50%), tilled it, I found a place they could buy bulk topsoil (cost way too much per bag at our store for this job) and they reseeded to my instructions.

6 months later the wife came in, told me how her sister had insisted they couldn’t do it themselves but was now asking them advice on what to do with her lawn. So she had pictures, and Zarquonsflattire, what do you suggest? Oh and here are pictures of this corner of our yard, do you have any suggestions on what to do there?

This is another sweet story about a customer.

The Random Smiles

Again this was when I was in chemicals a nice lady (around 75) came in, described a problem and had plant samples (black spot on roses? not sure anymore) and I diagnosed it for her and started to explain how to mix the chemical into water to use it.

She stopped me saying “Oh my boyfriend will take care of that.” Then this little old lady giggled, dropped her voice and said “I have a boyfriend again, after all this time.”

She giggled again and I joined in, because if you can’t appreciate an elderly person rediscovering the joys of youth you’re dead inside, and said “Well I’m sure he’s got it covered, but just in case it’s 1 oz per gallon, keep an eye on him” and I winked at her.

Possibly my favorite customer ever, and I only saw her once.

Then there’s the time they got an unusual tip.

The Strangeness

Myself and a buddy were working loading and a lady drove up in a F250 for 30 bags of much.

I climbed a new pallet and my colleague and I bucket brigaded the bags in no time flat.

She opened her purse, apologized that she had no cash to tip us (not a biggie, as we told her), then dug in the backseat of the truck and handed both of us two packages of bottle rockets as tip.

I know it’s Black Friday, and you guys won’t have to worry about me in those throngs of maniacs, but I thought maybe a reminder of the good customers would help everyone.

It does sound like this person had some bright spots in their retail days.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

This person was expecting a much shorter story.

Here’s a similar comment.

This person also shares what they miss about retail.

Kindness means more than money.

Working retail isn’t all bad.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.