maid 4U

just 10 minutes before store closing, a well-dressed, bright and chirpy customer walks in with an YZZA bag. i cringe inside hoping this will be a short one, i just want to be home now. she s obviously here for a return. im thinking, k i can do this real quick, do the refund, do the cash count put the alarm on the store and run.

as she gets closer i get ready to put on a show. im learning what a gifted actress i am. (retail is very glamorous. it s a lot like being on stage.) i smile, a smile more vibrant then hers. my mental state at this point is in full contradiction to my physical state. but as they say the show must go on. she s like hey u remember me, im like oh god help me its 9pm. im in no mood to socialize. she obviously is. and then it hit s me hey i do remember her. she was there one day before the opening of the store cleaning up the store, the light s, the bathrooms, shes the cleaning lady. i would nt have recognized her ever . she looked so different. she notices the confusion on my face and jumps to the oppurtunity to reintroduce herself.

she tells me how she got into the business of cleaning commercial and construction sites after completeion. she works as a sub contractor for big construction companies. goes through the whole process of bidding , has competitors in the market who she brags are not half as good as her. there s an enthusiasm in her, a passion, a twinkle in her eye as she talks about her self discovered profession. she claims to be a spiritual person. i think therefore i am. finds her work very fulfilling, therapeautic, self satisfying. she emanates an energy, a freshness about her work. she s a thinker she says and indulges in reading about life, spirituality and meditation. i am in complete awe.speechless. staring at her, holding on to every word that comes out of her. then as if shes seeing through me she says whatever you do in your life always remember that it s happened for a reason. whatever work you do be it retail, cleaning, or even working at Tim Hortons for that matter always remember you are learning a skill, make the most out of it and use that knowledge to your advantage. as long as you have a goal and you are positive, you can be an achiever. she goes on to narrate a small story. her first job was at a packaging factory where she had to use both her hands for doing something different. it was, she claims a nightmare, she hated it but who would ve known the skill she acqiuired from there she would be using now. shes now a pro at using both her hands for doing two different things. F R E A K Y but true. she demonstrates. my eyes pop out. she smiles. she hands her business card to me . she calls her company (which she s presently expanding) MAID 4U. unfortunately i cannot do her refund coz she s passed her 14 days. she gets a little upset, thanx me for my time and walks out with the same enthusiasm, calm and poise that she had entered with.

i look at the clock it s 9:45. my colleague gives me a dirty look. i hurry up the process and we head home. but this morning when i woke up i found myself still thinking about every word she said.

since my move to Canada i have been complaining about the life i had back home, what all i did, my freinds, work, school. not once have i thought of my present situation positively. i cribbed when i took up this retail job. such pride i had in me, im an architect i cant be caught dead doing this. but how many wonderful people i meet here everyday is amazing. this is a stepping stone for me in finding more oppurtunities for myself. i know that i met maid 4U for a bigger reason. we can never fully know the true outcome of any course of action. any apparent wrong turn can have surprising and joyful consequences that we could have never foretold. the point is, we just never know where our blessings will come from or how life will turn out.

a point famously made by Thomas Edison after his unsuccessful attempts to produce a lightbulb, " i have nt failed. i ve found 10,000 ways that dont work."