One day, before we actually opened the Western Auto Store, my father was at the store working when an eighteen-wheel truck rolled in to make a delivery.
My father and the truck driver were working hard to unload the truck.
A station wagon with no doors on it rolled into the as yet unpaved parking lot and a gentleman got out dressed in a torn, dirty shirt and torn jeans.
The hood to this car was held down by rope and wires and most of the car was in pretty bad shape. The man came up to my father and started helping him unload the truck.
They shot the breeze a little as they unloaded the truck and when they finished, my father reached into his wallet to take out a little money to pay the man for his help.
The man told him thank you, but that he could buy the place if he wanted to. As it turned out, this man owned a lot of land, a lot of houses and could, in fact, buy the store if he had wanted to.
You never know by looking or even talking to a person how much or how little money they have. You have to treat each and every person the same.
We were constantly having customers who would not fit your usual idea of a millionaire. We had millionaire customers who drove old trucks with no paint on them.
We also had customers who looked and dressed the part of millionaires and even held themselves out as if they had more money than they knew what to do with. These people would apply for credit and their financials would indicate that, just like Stanley Johnson, they are in debt up to their eyeballs.
Years later, Suzanne and I worked in a convenience store. A local farmer came in every Sunday. He drove an old, but nice, Ford F150 pickup truck.
He was not there to buy beer or cigarettes. Every Sunday he would treat himself to two small cups of Blue Bell Vanilla Ice Cream. As it turns out, this man in the faded but clean jeans was a multi millionaire. He had more land than anyone else in the county. He had several oil wells and a few natural gas wells, too. Yet, you could not tell it.
Not all is as it appears. Remember, sometimes we entertain angels unawares.
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I agree, we should treat everyone equally.
ReplyDeleteI have been around millionaires who looked like they needed a handout. I have been around people who looked like they had it all, who didn't. We are all just people. Have a blessed week and a Happy Thanksgiving.
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