30 May June at Experienced Goods
by Jennie Reichman
My friend Carol is a devotee of the spice company Penzey’s. Every year for Christmas and my birthday she gives me a little jar of their Vietnamese cinnamon and a couple of their signature herb blends, all very inventive and delicious on any dishes I want to pump up the flavor on. Penzey’s is a socially and environmentally conscientious company that has a one-word motto: Kind. It’s on their shopping bags, on magnets and bumper stickers they sell, and is a guiding principle of how they treat their customers and employees and how they approach the community at large. So this year for my birthday Carol gave me the requisite cinnamon and two new yummy blends for summer grilling, and then we took off on a road trip to a bakery she loves in Haydenville, MA, to have lunch. It was a busy day at the bakery, and when we got up to the counter to order our sandwiches, it was clear that the young man at the cash register was new to the job, spoke with an accent, and was trying really hard to be efficient and competent but was a little nervous, and he asked us several questions about what we wanted on our sandwiches. Suddenly one of the bakery owners strode up to his side and started loudly berating him for asking the wrong questions and not following the order-taking script. The poor guy (he couldn’t have been more than 20 years old) kept smiling and nodding, but he looked like he was going to cry. My heart ached for him, and I later wished I had taken the time and had the nerve to go up to the owner and say to her, “Please do not ever speak to your employees that way, and never in public. It’s degrading and demoralizing, and that young man is doing a great job. He kept his composure and did not flinch when you yelled at him, but I bet he won’t be here long if you continue to treat him or others that way.
Like Penzey’s, the word Kind could be the motto at Experienced Goods, along with Tolerant, Good-humored, Generous, Compassionate, Industrious, Willing, I could go on and on. But Kind is central. Every donor, every customer, every volunteer, every co-worker deserves kindness in interactions, even when we are frustrated or tired or stressed, and we try our darndest to uphold that tenet. It’s the Golden Rule thing. How would you like to be treated? Sometimes being kind means walking away and taking a break before you say something you will regret. Sometimes it’s making a joke, or going the extra mile to hunt down something a customer is shopping for. Sometimes it’s bringing up a grievance in private or with a trusted mediator. Kind is helping someone carry their heavy purchases out to their car. Kind is finding the item someone donated but didn’t mean to that is now somewhere in the vast and looming piles in the sorting room. Kind is the sincere compliment we give or the word of sympathy. Every day when I go to work I can count on encountering kindness in its many forms.
In other news, do you like to wear dresses? Are you someone who will wear a dress just about anywhere, including to garden in or clean the house? Would you buy yourself a new dress or three if they are only between $6 and $8 each? We are here for you! We have been unpacking summer boxes from storage and dresses make up the majority of what’s in them, so we are overflowing with every style, from classic and tailored to romantic and fluttery. So set your legs free as temperatures rise and maybe experiment with a style you wouldn’t normally wear. Or bring us the dresses in your closet you don’t like and buy new ones! And remember to be kind. You will sleep better at night and in countless small ways, the world will be a better place.