Kindness and two Pink Lady apples
Dec. 11th, 2022 08:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soniaAt the Temescal farmer's market today, I wandered up to a booth full of apples, considering whether I wanted to buy any. The tall older white man staffing the booth asked me how my week was. "Great!" I said. "I got a new job and quit the old one!"
Something in the way I said it touched a chord for him, and he said, "Isn't that scary?" I nodded emphatically. "Some people have the confidence to put themselves out there, but I always had a hard time with that. I knew I could do the job, but applying was hard. Those of us who are kind and honest get taken advantage of sometimes." I continued to nod emphatically and smile at his kind eyes while I picked out two small Pink Lady apples.
I started to hand them to him to weigh, and he said, "I'm buying you those apples. Take them. Keep putting yourself out there!" I thanked him warmly and said, "Keep being kind and honest!"
What a lovely unexpected bit of kindness and support after a long struggle with being taken advantage of at the current job and applying to new ones!
Something in the way I said it touched a chord for him, and he said, "Isn't that scary?" I nodded emphatically. "Some people have the confidence to put themselves out there, but I always had a hard time with that. I knew I could do the job, but applying was hard. Those of us who are kind and honest get taken advantage of sometimes." I continued to nod emphatically and smile at his kind eyes while I picked out two small Pink Lady apples.
I started to hand them to him to weigh, and he said, "I'm buying you those apples. Take them. Keep putting yourself out there!" I thanked him warmly and said, "Keep being kind and honest!"
What a lovely unexpected bit of kindness and support after a long struggle with being taken advantage of at the current job and applying to new ones!
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Date: 2022-12-12 05:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-12-12 06:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-12-13 08:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-12-14 06:12 am (UTC)When a stranger listens
Date: 2023-01-08 11:44 pm (UTC)...it can be so freeing.
One reason I loved long train trips is it offered many chances for seeing myself anew thanks to a new person's regard.
Re: When a stranger listens
Date: 2023-01-10 06:30 am (UTC)The two best things about taking the Coast Starlight from Portland to Oakland and back (in 2012) were chatting in Spanish with a kind woman from Spain, and slowly passing Mt. Shasta at dawn in the observation car.