At this time of year, I often reflect on some of my “special customers” who have done what I consider to be some EXTRAORDINARY things for me.
Here are two shining examples:
Mark and Mari learned my granddaughter had her eye on a special dress for an upcoming school function and realized this would be difficult for me to do on my own (even though it was reasonably priced for that style of dress). They stepped up and made sure she not only got a dress for the occasion, but THE DRESS that she REALLY wanted. As EVERY girl knows it’s all about the dress, right?
Not wanting to leave me out, you could say they went the “extra mile” or at least across the street to Cinco Di Mayo and brought me some tasty fajitas with ALL the trimmings, yum. (They’d went there for lunch that day.)
I unexpectedly ran into Mark downtown when I was getting the latest issue of the paper a while back, and I got to show him a picture of Avani in the dress that they made possible.
I thought maybe I offended him somehow, or maybe he didn’t like the dress, because I haven’t really seen either one of them since then.
However, Mari recently stopped by and told me that Mark had been in the Critical Care Unit at the local hospital with pneumonia, and that he celebrated both his 60th birthday and their 7th wedding anniversary from a hospital bed, which IS NOT his style. He’s more of a hard working farm/country boy. To complete the look he ALWAYS wears his overalls and a baseball cap.
I must admit, I missed seeing him in those overalls. (Not just anyone can pull that look off, and he does it SO well, it reminds me of my Pop — and there’s NO higher compliment than that!)
Mari told me he watched over me when I’m at my spot from his hospital room, but NOT in a creepy way though.
Mari’s generous soul has been equally missed! She’s given me A LOT of winter gear to keep me warm and dry this season.
Before she left, I gave her several papers to share with Mark. She said he told her he now knows what a cat feels like as it looks out the window wanting to get out, but can’t.
I asked if she could do me a special favor and give Mark the biggest hug he could possibly handle and let him know it’s from me, (but NOT in a creepy way though) and she assured me she would.
With that, we shared a good laugh and away she went.
I’m happy to report that he has since made a full recovery. Most recently they stopped by as they were headed out of town for a much needed vacation.
It doesn’t seem right to do an article like this without mentioning Larry and his lovely wife Dee. They have done SO much for me over time. If I were to recount their acts of kindness, it would take multiple pages of the paper, but as a sign of their modesty they prefer to be low key about all they do to help others. (For the record, they’ve done things for other vendors too, not just me.)
Most recently, I had a serious craving for Mexican food. Molcajete in particular. It’s similar to fajitas with shrimp, chicken, beef, chorizo, and cactus. Not many restaurants have it, but Las Fajitas that recently opened in my strip mall does!
I called Larry and he came to the rescue! He got the latest issue of the paper since his subscription was out at the time, and he made sure I was well taken care of.
He’s always done things like that for me. When Whataburger opened in Hermitage, he brought me one to try, and he waited over an hour for it — yikes! I would’ve NEVER waited that long for a hamburger!
Turns out, I REALLY liked the spicy ketchup. I didn’t think the hamburger was anything special, but I DID appreciate the effort he put forth!
In addition to things like that, he’s well known for making deliveries, everything from flowers (he used to deliver flowers for the In Full Bloom flower shop) to papers (he’s delivered numerous papers for me to a endless line of traffic at my spot before the light changed- before he had his heart and kidney transplants).
Recently, he delivered multiple issues of The Contributor to a few of my customers so I didn’t have to pay to mail them. Most notably the local councilwoman Erin Evans. (He’s wanted to meet her for quite a while now so it was a win win for everyone involved.)
These are just two perfect examples of what I mean when I say: it’s NOT just about the money, it’s about the connections you make with the people you meet.