With all the wintery weather it is no surprise that I haven’t been on my corner at all since it began. I DO miss seeing my customers, but fortunately, I’ve ran into a few of them in other places. I even met a few new ones when I did go out and about both before and after the storm. Here are just a few examples.
I went to Kroger in Donelson to pick up something on clearance for my daughter (one item was $3.02 more at my local Kroger). It was utter chaos — no eggs, no bread and many other things I consider “basic” staples weren’t available either, though I did manage to find a case of water. It seemed like I’d made the trip for nothing, but as I was leaving a lady came up to me and said, “You’re the lady with The Contributor on OHB and Central Pike, aren’t you?” I nodded and said, “guilty as charged.” She let me know she’d missed a couple of papers, and I wouldn’t you know I just happened to have them on hand. She gave me $5, and we went our separate ways.
When I went to stock up on kitty litter at the Petco on Murfreesboro Road, I was sitting outside waiting for my ride home and a man approached me and asked if I needed help. I was caught off guard because I wasn’t even trying to sell the paper at the time, so I wasn’t sure why he asked. My daughter spoke up and said, “My mom sells The Contributor.” He immediately came over and handed me some money. I asked if I could give him something special and showed him our poetry book and the most recent poetry edition of the paper that featured Homer Simpson on the front page. His response? “Man! I LOVE Homer Simpson!” He took it and away he went.
The following day was more of the same. This time after a relatively slow but fairly productive day, I got to help one person get some food, and another get a safe place to stay for the weekend at very little cost to me, so that made my day. I have MANY nice things done for me, so it’s nice to pay it forward when I can — especially when I was sure the weather was going to be BAD.
Later that day, I went to Aldi and as soon as I rolled through the door, I was greeted by Ms. Donna B., who immediately apologized for not having been by my spot lately. (I did wonder what had happened to her.) It turns out she’s caring for her son who lives in Tennessee some distance away. She told me, “Now don’t you be out in all the bad weather that’s coming, OK.”
I told her, “You don’t need to worry about that! If it does ANYTHING like what they’re saying on the news, I won’t be out AT ALL.” And for the record, I wasn’t, except when it was absolutely necessary.
In return for her generosity, I offered her a choice between a History Corner book and a what I call a Poetry Packet, all six of the special poetry issues of the paper and the limited edition Ignite Nashville poetry book written by our little group of street poets. Her choice was made easy because it turns out, she already has the History Corner book!
The last incident occurred when I went to the doctor. I originally put it off, but I couldn’t wait any longer. When the nurse asked, “How have you been in all this bad weather?” I answered, “Pretty good, I guess, even though I haven’t been able to get out to sell papers at all this week!” She responded, “Is that what you’re doing out there?” I enthusiastically said yes. She informed me she passed by every day and had no idea what I was doing. I proceeded to show her the issues I had on hand. She left the room and returned with money, so I gave her two of the most recent issues of The Contributor and showed her the three zines I had in my bag, along with the poetry book. She let me know she didn’t care for poetry, but she was fascinated by my Driving Disasters zine and asked for one. I smiled and nodded yes! She wasn’t sure she had enough money with her to pay for it, so I showed her the QR code on the paper so she could pay on Square, but it turned out she did have the cash on hand.
I was once told by a vendor to ALWAYS have the paper with you wherever you go because you never know when or where it might pay off. This story shows the wisdom in that! It also demonstrates the willingness of people to help those in need, and the vendor can can feel good because they have something to give in return, and it also gives proof that someone genuinely cares for them!
Thanks to all who have tried to keep me safe and warm and out of the winter weather.