I was always raised to be nice to people. I was raised to know that even though people will hurt you and their words will hurt you, you still have to be nice to them. I was raised to do what I thought was right and know what was wrong. Sometimes the fact that I am so caring and put everybody before I put myself has really taken a toll on my life and gets me walked all over and I let it to continually happen. I was raised to be nice to those who are mean to you, to show them you are not like them. I get told often that I look intimidating or look like I think I am better than everyone else, but that is the exact opposite what I think I am. I'm generally a very friendly, easy to get along with person. I work in retail, which is a very interesting industry to be in and so I meet a lot of different people. This is my story of encountering two different types of people and what it meant to me.

The first person I am speaking about was a racist woman. I am a very big supporter of black lives matter and I am in the process of trying to get merchandise of some sort to support the group. Anyway, this woman, who was not white, was being racist towards a group of beautiful women who spoke french, so I did my best to get them what they needed. They were not white either. So in my head I was confused but also a little shocked to be honest because I know racism does not have a race, anybody can be racist. She looked at me and said "I mean no harm." and I looked at her and nodded, also very confused at this point. She began raising her voice at me and two of my other co-workers. She was yelling about how disgusting it was for these women to try shoes on without socks-they were trying on heels. She started using racial slurs that I will not repeat because it is not in my place to do so.

The first thing you need to know is that I cannot tell what customers can and cannot do nor could I yell back at this woman. I could have told her to get out of the store and tell her nobody said that she had to try on the shoes. I felt awful that I was not able to do anything, I was trying to help her by just listening to her and nodding. I do not agree with anything that she said, and when she would not stop yelling at me or my co-workers I walked away. Of course, she got mad but I technically was not allowed to do anything about it because of policy. I spent the rest of the thirty minutes I had left of my shift hoping that she would not make a scene and start yelling at these women who did not speak english very well. This kind of thing worried me and it also made me feel so awful because I was not allowed to do anything. Racism is should not be tolerate no matter what race you are, it is disgusting.

The second type of person I have met was another woman who said very kind things to me. I was told to wear a dress for my next shift because we were having a 50% off sale on all of our dresses. I try not to wear dresses that often because I have thick thighs and chafing is a very painful experience. My dress was very spring and very cute, I love that dress. You also need to know that I have a shaved head so I only have long hair on the top of my head. Many people to this day tell me that I am a woman, I should have long hair, I am not beautiful with my hair buzzed off. I will also tell you I am a plus size woman so I do not get compliments very often or at all on my outfit choices because I am limited. This woman was very energetic and I was helping her get shoes and she looked at me and told me how cute I looked. She told me that I looked very stylish and that I looked so good in my dress. She told me she adored me and continue to explain to me that because of the way I look people are going to say negative things about me. However, she said because I am the way I am and that I am beautiful the way that I am that I get to ignore all of the negativity and be the beautiful woman I can be. She made me feel like I was on top of the world and not one person I've spoken to in my life has spoken to me like that. Nobody has ever told me that I can wear my hair buzzed off because my face is too round and fat, or that I could wear dresses because they would make me look bigger. This woman said so many kind things that, that is all I thought about the whole day, I still think about it. She was so kind and meaningful to me that I felt that I could love myself that much more. So, to whomever this woman was, thank you for your kind words and your kindness will stay within my heart forever.

So the moral of my stories are, there is no point in being cruel and mean. I do not understand the mind set behind people who are mean to others. I guess it could be the fact that they themselves are insecure about the way they are. Being insecure and taking it out on other people is not going to solve your problems. It honestly is free and costs nothing but some kind words to be nice to someone. It warms my heart to be nice to people and receive that kindness back. Make the world a better place and be nice to someone, who knows maybe they are having a bad day and you could be that person to make it better.