"I'll ask an employee to get it," I said, and I found a tall man sorting coats and asked him to reach it.
He seemed puzzled over which I wanted, so I waved over my friend.
"Est-ce que tu parles français?" he asked her.
Our french-speaking friend was also there, so she stepped up to clarify which particular sweater was wanted.
It was too high for the tall employee to reach, so he went looking for a pole. He prowled the store from front to back while another employee took the coats he'd been sorting and put them in their places. We waited, and finally he came back and told us he couldn't find a pole to reach the sweaters. Then the other employee offered to get it, and he turned, bewildered, to find the coats he had been trying to purchase all put away.
This lovely, helpful man was not an employee 😂 He was not sorting coats ... he was buying coats. And now he had to go through them all again.
We apologized and laughed and apologized some more. When we parted, he waved and warmly wished us goodnight (this was right after lunch, which I am only pointing out so that you will see how dear he was to try again in English).
Sometimes at Christmas I feel like Mary, bearing the precious child. Sometimes I feel like the shepherds, seeking the Christ. Sometimes I feel like the wise men, worshiping the king. And sometimes I feel like the ass. A festive ass, but still an ass.
May your Christmas shopping bring you kind encounters and lots of laughs, friends.
Xo.
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