Tears
About a month ago a man came in and said he was shopping for his daughter. I thought he was just like any other dad coming in, but as we started talking I realized he was like no other customer we have ever had before. As Megan and I were helping him pick out an outfit, he told us his daughter (around seven or eight years old) had just died of a brain tumor a few days ago and he was shopping for the outfit they would put her in for her wake. Megan and I were speechless. Here was this man doing, what I imagine, one of the hardest things someone would ever have to do in their life. We gave him our condolences and tried to assist him as much as we could but I could barely keep it together in the ten minutes we were talking to him. Thankfully his wife came in to help him pick out the outfit. They ended up choosing two outfits, a blue one and a pink one, because they couldn’t decide at the time.
About a month ago a man came in and said he was shopping for his daughter. I thought he was just like any other dad coming in, but as we started talking I realized he was like no other customer we have ever had before. As Megan and I were helping him pick out an outfit, he told us his daughter (around seven or eight years old) had just died of a brain tumor a few days ago and he was shopping for the outfit they would put her in for her wake. Megan and I were speechless. Here was this man doing, what I imagine, one of the hardest things someone would ever have to do in their life. We gave him our condolences and tried to assist him as much as we could but I could barely keep it together in the ten minutes we were talking to him. Thankfully his wife came in to help him pick out the outfit. They ended up choosing two outfits, a blue one and a pink one, because they couldn’t decide at the time.
About a week later I walked into Tween Girlz for my shift and I saw him at the counter. I braced myself and walked up to him and Autumn at the register. She was just finishing up the return for the pink outfit he brought back. He looked over at me and said, “We decided to go with the blue.” At that moment I couldn’t hold back my tears. I looked at Autumn and I could tell she was having the same problem. I felt terrible that I couldn’t even keep it together for two minutes in front of this dad who was probably dealing with so many other random, blubbering strangers already. The last thing he needed was another pity party from the girls at Tween Girlz. But all he did was thank us for our help, and as he was leaving he said, “She really loved your clothes.” His eyes started to water and I had to look away.
After he left the store I couldn’t stop thinking about him. I tried putting myself in his position but I knew it was impossible to know what he was feeling. When thinking about planning funerals and wakes the main concerns that come to mind are the guest lists and the flowers and who is going to say what at the ceremony. You never really think of the small things like going shopping for an outfit you think she would like. And it’s those little things that are the hardest of all I think.
I chose this entry from my blog about working at Tween Girlz, a clothing store for girls between the ages of 6 and 11, because it was the hardest entry to write but my favorite as well. The experience affected me in a way I would have never expected at my job. Every day I see a baby crying, a little brother running around the store, and a frazzled mother trying to get her daughter to try on clothes, but this was a situation I'd never faced before. It is experiences like these that make me stop and think, and I’m happy to say my job is able to give me times like these, no matter how difficult they are.
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