On Faith in Humanity

It's hard to believe that having some of the most disgusting sentiment I can imagine hit my ears could actually affirm my own faith in humanity. My head is spinning right now and for once I am devoid of any outlet or distraction so the purpose of this blog is once again relevant. A girl came into work tonight, waited patiently in line then hit me with an unusual, but not altogether unreasonable request. She had credit card information written down on a paper, account number, expiration date, code on the back, everything; and asked if she could pay that way since she lost her debit card and had that info from her credit card given to her from her mother in New Hampshire. I didn't have a single reason to doubt what she was saying, being a psychologist (in theory) I'm often fascinated by things like subconscious cues that giveaway liars (not that I'm any sort of expert but I know the basic ones that an expert liar would train against). I gave her the ok and she shopped for about 20 minutes, spending most of the time in the far aisle, dairy cooler and produce cooler (I paid slightly more attention to her whereabouts since she was pretty cute. creep, creep). After ringing her up, I was halfway through entering her information when the perpetually frustrating micro-manager whom I sometimes call boss (you don't want to know what else I call her) sees whats happening and immediately takes up her typical position looking over my shoulder. She demands an explanation, we oblige. She asks the girl for some I.D., a basic precaution I admit that I overlooked, and lets me proceed: Declined. We try twice more with the same result, which visually worried the girl. She asks me why it's not going through and tells me it just worked elsewhere. The only information I could give was the one word the machine gives me: Declined. It should be noted that while we were trying to run the card she took a pair of bottles of Gatorade and other items out of one of the plastic bags I instinctively put them in and relocated them to her backpack which she kept on the floor afterwards.

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My manager informs the girl that we can't let her take the stuff and multiple things happen at once that are a jumble in my mind: my manager clears the register the void the order, the girl leaves (already on the phone to sort out her money problems), the would-be purchase is moved aside, and I hurriedly start ringing up the considerable line that has formed. As I clear the line, Miss Mis-manager decides to scrutinize the declined credit slips, receipt and un-purchased items and discovers two things rung up that are no longer present, two of the three drinks (the two that she put in her bag). I recall watching the girl leave as I'm being cursed for not keeping track of this and "letting her steal" but didn't notice if the timing worked out that she might have taken the time to put the things she wanted to buy back. The boss lets loose a tirade about how the whole story stunk to begin with, how I should've somehow let her know in secret that I had a "suspicious character" in the store and other unreasonable retrospective criticisms that I absorb on a daily basis. She orders the items put back and barges off. The last item I return to the shelf is the third Gatorade in the far aisle, I find the shelf completely full, none missing save the one I'm holding which fits perfectly in the front row. This convinces me of what I had in the back of my mind the entire time I was being given a talking to, she did put them back and before she left. A bit later the subject is breached again and I point out this observation in defense of the girl that has now been vitrified (newcomer to my vocabulary, thank you Portal 2) as a shady con artist; and then the disgusting thing happened.

In response to my emotional and deductive defense of this girl, I'm rewarded with another lecture. I'm told that everyone is a crook. I'm told I'm naive for giving anyone the benefit of the doubt. I'm told I'm to never trust another person with a similar story, or believe a similar "sob story", "I don't care if she cries". I heard this girl vilified alongside greedy telemarketers, Wal-mart, and E-bay (apparently "a scam"). I'm told I won't get anywhere if I let honest looking people take me for a ride. This woman often takes it upon herself to give the younger generation with whom she works unsolicited advice that is always half-baked and usually terrible as far as advice goes; but I found myself particularly outraged that this time her advice was to treat everyone as a heartless criminal waiting to happen. After a brief period of directing disgust towards that entire sentiment, a relieving thought hit me which is what I really wish to share out of this long ass story. I am so thankful that I have faith and trust in my fellow humans. I love absolutely everything that has happened in my life to give me the outlook I now possess. Often I overstate and over think how badly things are when I've had a rough day, and complaining is one of my most indulged pastimes. But I can't imagine how hopeless and wicked the world is to someone who looks into the souls of others and sees only blackness. How exhausting is it to safeguard yourself from the potential attackers that constantly surround you? I choose to automatically trust the strangers I meet everyday and as a result I'm rewarded everyday by the friendly regulars that I know by face and buying habits, if not by name. I don't intend to ever give up this habit. And if a tough life, or long line of hurtful people bring me to the point that I view most people as evil rather than good, I sincerely hope that I am old, cancerous, or otherwise close to death, because I can't see myself living that way. I greet new people as a friend by default and thereby I am, more often than not, received as such. I wouldn't have it any other way.