Hello dear readers. It’s good to be back with you. It’s been a while since I have shared my heart with you all. A fairly large project has been taking a good chunk of my time recently and for that I apologize. This week I would like to take you into a child’s perspective. Our story today begins a little over a month ago.

While shopping recently at a local small chain store, I stood in line waiting for a casher clerk. Waiting patiently for several minutes it became clear that there was no one planning to serve me. When I looked around the store I saw a woman stocking shelves. I continued looking and realized that she was the only one in the store. Continuing to wait, my patience wore thin.Had she noticed me? Did she know I was here? She would have to have known someone was in the store because she would have heard the bell which rings cheerfully with each customer upon entering through the doors. Feeling frustrated and getting increasingly impatient it became clear that she was not coming. I was unsure of what to do at this point until I finally see the sign which says, “ring for assistance.” 

Oh, ring the bell! That’s what she’s waiting for!

Now, it must be stated that I don’t like ringing the bells when they are placed on the counters. It feels to me to be demanding and simply rude. But, with no other option, I rang the bell. Yep, I rang the bell aaaand waited yet again. And waited and waited.

Finally, the clerk, out of breath and flustered, came up to the counter. Her face spoke volumes. She greeted me not with a “Sorry to keep you waiting,” but with a huff. Without speaking a word, she took her position and began ringing up the items on the counter, refusing to look me in the eye.

I could not see any other customers in the store at the moment, at least not in the line. Sooo, what was the problem exactly? I asked myself. It was clear that she was agitated. I looked again and realized that she was not just the only one in the store at the moment and running the counter as well as the store by herself, but she had been stocking shelves in between customers. She might have been responsible to have all the shipments stocked by the end of her shift before she could go home. Not sure, but I was searching for any possible explanation.

Standing there and watching this disheveled and discombobulated store clerk unravel I could not help but feel bad. My anger melted as I realized that she needed a bit of understanding. Trying to ease her nerves a little, I extended her a peace offering, “They sure keep you guys busy here, don’t they?” I truly felt bad for her at this point.

Without hesitation she pointed her finger at me and stated matter-of-factly, “It’s YOU guys who keep us busy!” This hit me like a ton of bricks. Wait. What? Me, the customer is keeping her from doing her job?

I can’t honestly say it didn’t sting, but I was more confused than hurt. I, the customer, had come to pay for a service which the store is open for business to provide me. It wasn’t the work she was frustrated with; it wasn’t the management with which she had a problem, it was me that was the problem! I took her away from her job. I had interrupted her stride as she barreled through the boxes of merchandise. Never mind the fact that a customer is there to pay for the items she so lovingly and carefully placed on the shelves. Nope. The shelves must come first. I was just an inconvenience. That was all. Yep, it was clear. I was the inconvenience. 

Now at this moment, many responses are running through my mind. But what came out was,   “Oh, I’m sorry.”   With nothing more to say, I left the store steaming.

Note here that I have had MULTIPLE encounters of waiting for a clerk in this very store, with no one else in line to check out. In fact, it’s a store I have tried to avoid, but have had to frequent out of necessity. It has crossed my mind more than once someone should make management aware of how much of a problem it has become (something I have never done in my life).

Here, I was ready to take out my pen, my mighty sword and begin to build my case to the manager. And for about 20 or 30 minutes it kept rolling around in my mind. What would I say? How could I word this? I knew, however, that this was not about me at all. It really was about this frustrated, overtaxed, and burdened store clerk. She was dishing out what had been put on her, and I took the brunt.

As adults, we all can relate to this woman. We know what it is like to be overworked and underpaid. Or given impossible tasks we can’t complete in the allotted time. Yes, and you dear teacher can relate as well.

In this moment of heated frustration, the question came to me ever so gently. How many times have I made a student feel they have inconvenienced me when asking for help? The answer? Oh, I don’t want to know the answer to this question, friends. The number scared me actually.

I thought about the times I just wanted to get my grades finalized by the noon deadline and how flustered I became as the internet would go in and out, making the task impossible. How many students had I treated like an inconvenience in those moments alone? The thought made me cringe.

I had made my students feel this way, multiple times. No, I had never stated that “You are a burden,” or “It’s you guys who keep me busy,” but my actions had spoken this.

Yes, we can identify circumstances which create a person’s response. Yes, we adults can learn to not always take things personally. But do our kids really understand this? When we tell them, “Go sit down,” or “not now,” or “I’m busy,” what are they really hearing? Are we so consumed with stocking our own shelves of products that we have forgotten our customer?

Suddenly, I was hit with the weight of what every child must feel when we their teacher are too busy for them, our customer, and our reason for being there in the first place.

We can blame the system for throwing more on us than we can carry, and that would be true. However, the woman at the counter, feverishly stocking her shelves could argue the same thing. Was her behavior about me in any way? Not at all, yet it was me who the behavior affected most, the customer. Whether or not she intended to, she inadvertently caused me to never what to shop in this store again.

You see dear teacher; the students don’t separate how they are treated from the direct cause. They simply believe that they are an inconvenience when treated as such. They don’t see what the board mandates for us. They don’t see the CSO’s we are given to teach in a year. They don’t see the extensive list of emails from inquiring parents you have yet to respond to. They don’t see all the IEP meetings which you are required to attend. But they simply get the message that they are in the way of our jobs when they receive the brush of a hand when they are asking for help.

^{Matthew 10:29} Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows (Matthew 10:29 NKJV).

No matter how valuable the product is, it is the customer who is most valuable. I’ve held to education as one of the most valuable products being sold. Knowledge can change a life, a community, and the world. It is most valuable. However, I can line my shelves with the greatest knowledge at my fingertips, I can plan and craft engaging lessons which are rigorous, and in line with CSO’s but my lesson will never outweigh the value of the customers seated in the desk in front of me.

Thanks for reading today’s blog on The Fruitful Educator.

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