Gracious

gra·cious (grshs) adj.
Characterized by kindness and warm courtesy.

Exactly what I experienced yesterday at the grocery picking up lunch of rotisserie chicken and ribs from Cold Storage at Great World City.

I approached the counter and looked over the selection and made my choices. The attendant had her back turned from the counter and was still busy cleaning the oven and so I waited. Looking to my left I saw that another customer had arrived and was checking out the offerings of the day.

After what seemed to be 45 seconds, I directed an "Excuse me..." to the lady behind the counter. She quickly turned, said hello and assessed the two customers who were in front of her.

She asked what I wanted. I asked for a whole chicken cut into quarters. For a moment she had a look that I could only describe as "how troublesome." She then said, "You wait, ah." Then in Chinese she must have asked the man beside me what he wanted.

Speaking in Chinese the man must have told the lady to attend to me first since I had arrived first. I can only guess this as I don't speak Chinese. But the lady did say to me, "Really sorry ah. Anything else?" I asked if she could give me a serving of ribs.

As she took the ribs and packed my food orders, I quickly turned to the man on my left to thank him. He said, "So, you're from overseas." I said, "Yes, I am Filipino." He smiled geniunely.

As the lady put my orders on top of the counter she again apologized, "Really sorry. Really sorry ah," to which I said "Thank you. No worries."

Putting the chicken and ribs in the basket, I turned to this gracious middle-aged man to thank him. As we said our goodbyes, I could only think about what a kind gesture of giving I just experienced. So to him, again I say thank you. Food eaten and digested. The gesture relished and appreciated.

I will remember to pay this forward.