The Niles Star

Our line snaked halfway through the store and the phone rang endlessly mostly with "customers" seeking the trendy sold-out toys we would never sell anyway.

By admin

Daniel B. Kline: Sometimes the little things are big

Published 6:00am Saturday, December 26, 2009

Two people had called in sick and another staff member had simply disappeared.
We were short-staffed during the start of the busiest time of the year and I was trying to keep people happy and moving through the store.

I was playing a bit injured as well as my hip and knee were throbbing in pain from falling on the ice the day before.

Add to that the congestion in my sinuses from a growing cold and, well, the pressure was starting to build.

We were busy – that was good – but my various physical hurts coupled with the ever-demanding holiday crowd left me longing for a nap. When the phone rang one more time and nobody else managed to answer it I picked it up, begging the line in front of me for patience.

I had expected yet another person asking for a toy that had not been made in 20 years, assuming we would have it because our name is Time Machine.

This might actually be our most prevalent phone call in the month of December and people seem truly flabbergasted when we have no magical source for toys long since out of production.

Instead, though, I picked up the phone and had approximately the following exchange.
“Good afternoon, Time Machine.”

“Good afternoon. Is Dan there?”

“Hey Phil, can’t really talk now. There’s a huge line and we’re shorthanded.”
“I won’t keep you. I was just calling to wish you a happy holiday and say thanks for everything you did this year.”

There’s a little more, but the key part is above.

A customer – a regular who comes from over two hours away to shop out store a few times a year – called just to say something nice.

One of my favorite people in the store, this customer – a doctor with more than a few pressing things to do – had taken the time just to reach out because it was the season to do so.

It was a small gesture, but it brightened my day and reminded me of everything I like about working in retail.

It also reminded me of everything I like about the holiday season.

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Chanukah or none-of-the-above, people often stop this time of year to just wish others well.

This is a time to simply let people know you care and that you appreciate them.

It’s a time to shake hands, clap backs and liberally dole out the hugs.

I don’t really get enough time during the holiday season to tell everyone that matters to me how much I care and how much I appreciate them.

That goes for my family, my friends and the people who go out of their way to be nice.

Little things matter and taking the time to say it always makes people feel better.

That customer from the story above actually came in Saturday and when I saw him, my face broke into a bigger-than-usual smile.

“Phil,” I called as I saw him walk in, “you really got me through a rough day.”

He smiled and walked over to me and we spent a few minutes talking.

He had just been in New York dealing with a recently deceased sibling’s house and had stopped in the store as a bit of a mental pick-me-up on his way home.

We chatted for a while with me forgetting that my head cold was now a chest cold and that the bruise in my hip was not being helped by 14-hour days spent standing.

Phil got to drop his burdens a bit, too, and spend a time just talking about his hobbies, our business and whatever other trivial matters we discussed that day.

It’s times like this that remind me that we can’t get through this life on our own and sometimes it’s nice when someone shows us we don’t have to.

It does not take much to make someone else’s day brighter and that little bit of effort might be the greatest gift we can give anyone (though an expensive helicopter or train set from your favorite toy store also makes an excellent gift).

Daniel B. Kline’s work appears in more than 100 papers weekly.
When he is not writing, Kline serves as general manager of Time Machine Hobby, New England’s largest hobby and toy store, www.timemachinehobby. com. He can be reached at dan@notastep.com or you can see his archive at dbkline.com or befriend him at facebook.com/dankline.