“Thank you for your kindness,” She said.

A tear found it’s way from my eye to my cheek bone. My coworker is one magical piece of work who seems to see through my, what I thought was thick skin, until Gail came along with her nose held high, and her inflated ego, ready to condescend everyone in her path… spotlight on me. Gail is Karen on steroids.

If kindness is free, why is it so difficult for most people to practice, particularly for many older generations, to the humans working behind counters in the service industry?

I must have offended Gail, by asking her to repeat her order, just once, after her rambunctious children, or grandchildren, changed their minds once, wait, no, twice, actually, no, three, four, errr.. uh… maybe, that, uh, five times. six times! Ahem, seven. Did you get that?

I received an eye roll, a huff and a puff, and an exaggerated, “ONE MUFFIN TWO SCONES, see, three total,” She said holding three fingers in my face. Gross. ” Plus my drink, so four things,” As I bagged everything I could remember, with just one hand, whilst also punching the order into the computer, one handed, still, I asked her one last question, (oh no, the world is over!) Was it almond milk in your latte? I genuinely couldn’t remember. The cafe was packed and I couldn’t hear anything. I got another eye roll. okayyyyy. Sorry I offended you. I guess?

“what’s your name?”

“gail”

checks out.

Usually, I charm my customers with the “I have the memory of a goldfish” line, but that didn’t cut it with Gail, the nightmare Karen.

I know I am really good at my job, most of the time, and pretty good at masking my disability, so good, in fact, that a lot of folks don’t even know I have one. One of my regulars I’ve known for months, was in shock when I told him I was half paralyzed and had a stroke.

So, how can I expect Gail to have any clue or extra patience for me? I’m not the kind of person who likes or needs special attention, so I don’t expect that from a woman like Gail, but at the very least, I’d hope, no matter who she interacts with, I hope she can show them at the very minimum, some genuine kindness.

I was on the verge of tears interacting with that woman, struggling to walk, my shoulder subluxation was throbbing, causing my entire left side to just scream at me in pain. My brain was scrambled with over 100 orders, I was overheating, hungry, and absolutely exhausted- terrified of my epilepsy relapsing.

I’M SORRY I COULDN’T REMEMBER WHAT MILK YOU WANTED GAIL.

Just be nice. It’s free. You don’t know what silent battles everyone is fighting.