I love all holidays and I try to spread a little happiness whenever possible. The other day, I had a strange thing happen that caught me off guard. It was the day before Easter and the 6th day of Passover and I was shopping with my granddaughter. After paying for my purchase, I turned to the saleswoman and said, “Thank-you so much for your help. I hope you have a happy holiday!” She looked at me with anger in her eyes and hissed, ” You can say Happy Easter to me. Do you not see the cross around my neck?”
My daughter-in-law (who is a devout Christian) looked at me waiting to see how her Jewish mother-in-law was going to handle this one! Without hesitation I replied, “Being of the Jewish faith, I am sensitive to the fact not every one celebrates the same holiday. Don’t you think the important thing is that I just wished you a happy holiday, no matter what you celebrate? Then the comic in me had to make an appearance. “Besides all that, I am half blind, so unless I stood up to your eyeballs, I wouldn’t have seen that little cross on your chest!”
I’m not sure my funny side lightened the mood, but she calmed down enough to hand me my bag and give me the department store speech about appreciating my business.
I think management needs to teach a class about what not to say to a customer!
