Today I had a man in my line who was in a wheel chair, not an electric one or anything fancy though. His items were in a basket that he emptied onto the belt then surprised me by handing me the basket and saying;
"You got a place you want me to put this bruthuh'?"
The fact that he was willing to put the basket back himself was a shock (has only happened twice since I started working there). I took his basket and set it behind the register to get later, I rang him up and separated everything the way I do. I put his cans in one bag, the oil in a separate bag and the same for the meat and eggs. Then it clicked in my head;
"Wait... he's in a wheel chair. I should try to consolidate those bags for him."
I reached for the bags and he told me not to worry about it, he would figure something out. He wrapped up the bag with the meat and put it inside the oil bag. Then he tied up the oil bag and put it inside the bag with the cans and then tied that up as well. Then he put the over sized bag between his legs (at this point I should mention that he was paralyzed from the waist down), and set the eggs on his lap. He then spun around and wheeled himself towards the door, stopping to help another customer that had dropped some of their items.
Turns out the guy was a Vietnam vet who had been wounded in combat by enemy MG fire. This guy is my hero for three reasons. One, he has served his country. This alone should be enough for anyone. Two, he doesn't let being disabled slow him down in any way. Three, the way he treated me as well as the other customers is something that I rarely see. I'm used to people coming up and setting a full basket on the counter at the express registers (20 items or less), having me pull 50 items out of it, then leave it sitting on the counter like it's not their problem anymore.
So I salute this man for not only serving his country but for also being the most polite and out going human being I have ever met.
