Tinkerings

My feet can still get to tapping a bit when I think of a very young Michael Jackson singing “One bad apple don’t spoil the whole bunch girl…” with the Jackson 5.  Ah, that was when music was music and you could still understand all the lyrics in a song.

This morning, that song came to me while walking through Wal-Mart at 6:15.  I usually love Wal-Mart in very early morning hours.  There are no customers there to speak of.  You can find all kinds of employees in practically every aisle while they restock shelves.  It is very easy to get someone’s attention to help you find nearly anything.

This morning I didn’t need help.  I knew where the blank DVDs were, and I had a pretty good idea about the clear packing tape dispenser I needed.  So my walk through Wal-Mart lasted a total of 3 minutes.

Then I went to check out.

Because it was the early hours with no customers backed up in long lines of overflowing carts, there was one cash register open.  This particular Wal-Mart has over 30 cash registers, but only the 15 items or less lane was available.

I walked up to the register and laid my two items down for the man in the khaki colored pants and blue t-shirt to check me out.  (Just as a side note, sometimes a dress code really doesn’t matter).  Without a word to me, the man turned around and walked away.  I was left in the only available check out lane and there was no one there to do the checking out.

I continued to stand there while four other employees walked by the register and merely looked at the growing frustration on my face and continued on their way.  Finally, the checkout person came back (along with another customer he was evidently helping) and proceeded to move me backwards away from the register so he could help the person he brought with him.

Nothing was said.  No apologies made.  No explanations.  Just rudeness and a total lack of customer care.

If I hadn’t been wearing my DE Streaming Beyond the Textbook t-shirt I might have responded differently.  (Sometimes dress code does make a difference).  But since I was easily identifiable by the personal branding I had chosen that morning, I smiled, slid my credit card, gathered my belongings, and walked out of the store to let my blood pressure go down just slightly.

Think about it.  An entire store full of employees working away to get things ready for the shopping spree of the day, and one…just one…ruined my entire experience.

Sometimes that’s just one student.  Just one can ruin an entire day of teaching.  Sometimes that’s just one teacher.  Just one can make a student hate school for years to come. Sometimes that’s just one parent.  One administrator.  One professional development opportunity gone bad.  One badly needed website that’s blocked.  One email written in haste.

Michael Jackson had it wrong.  One bad apple really can ruin the whole bunch.

Always do your best to be a good apple.  We don’t all have to be the same type of apple.  Simply being a good one is enough.