Tammi's World

Angels Amoung Us

Yesterday was a great day!!

It's always good when you start you day off with a couple of hugs from people that really care about you! That's how I got to kick things off yesterday. Thanks again to Lee Ann and hubby (and puppy to!) for a bit of "just what the doctor ordered". I start heading north and hit the SkyWay Bridge and felt the smile. It started in my mind and curled my toes. If you have never seen the view of the Gulf of Mexico from the top of the SkyWay Bridge you are missing a slice of joy that is every bit as sweet as pie. It's a great way to start the day.

I was helping out calling on stores that I used to call on before my relocation. This are stores that I've established relationships with and just enjoy the hell out of. I get through the first store and find myself listening to the radio instead of driving in silence. Hmmm....haven't done that in a while. Then I get to the second store, walk in and hear "TAMMI!!!! OMG, we've missed you!!" and get hugs. Yeah, I know I said I don't hug my customers, but there was no stopping these guys! I audited the store and settled back to see if there were any issues or questions I could help with. The Big Wig DM was in this store and I hadn't met him. He just kept saying that he has heard so much about me, how happy he was to meet me and on and on and on. Balm to my wounded soul.

Next store - more surprise that I was there, and hugs and just general happy stuff. This went on and just got better at every store I stopped at. They started calling ahead of me, telling everyone that I was coming and everyone was just so.......positive, and smiling and happy. And this is all happening when sales suck for these people. They weren't happy because of business, they were happy because I was there. Ahhhhh.

I noticed that not only was I listening to music I was singing along. I was laughing. It's been a while since I've done that while I'm working. Hell, I even caught myself dancing to the music in a store while I was doing my audit. Yeah - I was in a very happy mood.

I got to one of my last 3 stores. It was really getting late and I still had some to do yet so I couldn't stay as long as I wanted. I head out to the car and take off. Something doesn't sound or feel right. As I was just noticing this, my cell phone rings. It was the store I had just left. Seems I had a flat tire. Not good - I can't even put air in a tire so changing one was not going to be an easy feat.

Seems I didn't need to worry about that. Two young gentlemen came to my rescue. They had stopped at the store to pick up a mattress set and saw what was happening. They came over, pulled out the donut tire and took it to put air in. They then changed my tire and told me why it was important to only drive 55 home. They were charming and so very nice. While the one guy went to fill up the donut tire, the other sat and chatted with me. We talked about football and fishing and touched on politics and agreed that our Military Rocks!! He wanted to make sure I knew NOT to let anyone try and sell me new tires. My tires were fine, I just need a patch. He didn't want anyone to take advantage of me.

Oh, and the sales manager from the store came out to help and stay with us until things got finished. THEN they guys went and loaded up the mattress set and went to deliver it. This was all at 9:00 at night. They had been moving a friend all day, but they still took the time to help me. The sales manager had just gotten power back the day before that and had a wife at home 7 months pregnant and STILL waited until I was on the road again. And They Wouldn't Take a DIME!! Not even letting me buy them a soda. Nothing. They said they just hoped that if their Mom or Sister got in the same jam, someone would help them. Pay It Forward at it's very best.

There ARE angles amoung us. There are - and I met three of them last night.

It was a very good day.

Posted by Tammi at October 1, 2004 07:10 AM