Friday afternoon my wife and I were desperate for Subway sandwiches. And since she had piles of business mail for the post office, I was elected for the road-trip.
After making the post office drop, I stopped by the Yellow Pine Subway for tasty morsels.
Of course there was an older woman in line in front of me that already had her food but was disputing her bill. I ordered, and my sandwiches were ready to ring up, but the woman was still arguing her bill. There were two men behind me that also ordered their sandwiches and were waiting to pay for them. None of us could leave until this older woman's anger was vindicated for whatever injustice she felt was imposed on her.
The cashier carefully went over each item on the bill and explained that everything was accounted for. The older woman insisted that there was a 3 cent discrepancy. Finally the cashier asked her if she wanted 3 cents. The woman proclaimed with great indignation that the 3 cents was hers and she was entitled to it.
As the cashier was fishing around for 3 cents, the older woman loudly stated that she wanted to make a complaint on the cashier because she "didn't like her attitude".
At this point the cashier stood quietly and took the older woman's abuse.
Somewhere along here I looked behind me and realized the two men behind me were angry and all three of the women working behind the Subway counter was angry, all because this woman didn't want to pay the tax on her food.
The cashier told the older woman that if she went online to www.subway.com, she could lodge her written complaint. The woman stated she would.
I couldn't stand by and watch the older woman bully the cashier any longer.
I spoke up and said, "I will volunteer to go onto the website and lodge an atta girl for you because you have been respectful and tried everything possible to resolve this problem. I will report that there was nothing humanly possible you could do to make her happy".
At this the woman stomped off in a huff.
No, its not over. The older woman couldn't stand it. She actually thought she could bully me too.
So she came back and advised me that the discrepancy was not over 3 cents but "it should be more like 10 cents".
I explained to her that I was a customer trying to pay for my sandwiches and she was holding up the line. I told to her that all I wanted to do was pay my full bill and go feed my wife lunch.
This seemed to infuriate her and she left. As she left Yellow Pine, the whole gas station cracked up laughing. There were at least 20 people in there laughing at the spectacle she made of herself over 3 cents.
The point of my story today is this: "It is never ok to bully the weak."
The older woman knew the cashier couldn't say or do anything to her because she would get fired. And when the cashier gave her the three cents back, the bully inflicted more pain by threatening to file a complaint with the company on her attitude.
The second point to my story is this: "It is never ok to stand by and watch a bully abuse the weak".
And for the record, YES, I went to the Subway website and filed an atta girl for the patient cashier that handled today's adventure.
"Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless;
maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed"
Psalm 82:3
"The Lord has told you what is good,
and this is what He requires of you:
to do what is right,
to love mercy,
and to walk humbly
with your God"
Micah 6:8
