I work at a certain grocery store that may or may not be really close to our school. Last weekend, I had some pretty crappy customers, long shifts, and a few annoying coworkers. But it’s not like this all the time. Case in point: last night. I went into work absolutely loathing the idea of smiling at customers and saying, “Thank you, have a nice night.” I came out in a terrific mood.

As a semi-functioning introvert, I’m not exactly a people person. So why the heck do I enjoy my job? The people. Aaaand the plot thickens.

It was insanely slow for the first hour and a half of my shift, and this meant that I spent a good deal of time seeing how long I could twirl a pen around my fingers. (For anyone curious, like five seconds. I really suck at it.)

When things finally picked up, I got stuck with suburban moms galore. Hearing about their kid’s soccer game or how they absolutely had to stock up on Chobani Greek yogurt since it was on sale gets redundant after a while, and things were a blur for the next few hours.

Around 9:30, this woman came up to my lane. She was really quiet, but polite, and she only had two gallons of milk in her cart. As I was ringing her up, she tried various cards, but each one was rejected. The woman was flustered, and she quickly ran out of the store, saying that she would come back later.

The woman next in line told me to watch her groceries, and then she ran outside after the other woman. She ended up paying for the woman’s milk, and I haven’t seen anyone so gracious in my life. I don’t know why she needed the milk, or why she couldn’t pay for it, but this exchange improved my whole night.

People tend to show their true selves when they shop – especially for food. While usually this brings out the bad side, it can sometimes bring out the best in people. Whether or not you notice it, your cashier is really observant (after all, we have nothing else to do). These little snapshots of generosity are what makes my job worthwhile.