customers that pass away

[Rine]

I had a sad experience yesterday regarding a customer.

About a month ago, I had an elderly man in the store looking for an under the counter coffeemaker. He needed it in white. Black and Decker made these, but my store only carried the black models--both in the store and on-line. I told him to let me research it and I would call him. So, he was super, super nice and thanked me so many times. I took his phone number and he left.

I kept researching where to get this white under the counter coffeemaker. Our "sister" company carried the white one on their website. I didn't know if I could order it from them from the store. Turns out, I could. So, I called the customer back and we did the order on the internet. I had to do a few extra steps since he didn't have an e-mail and didn't really understand computers. I gave him phone numbers for that company's order service in case the coffeemaker didn't come and so forth.

You wouldn't believe how thankful he was and he was so sweet, though he went a little overboard talking about his grandkids and his health problems. I didn't mind, though it took me nearly fifteen minutes to get him off the phone.

He sent the manager a letter about me telling me how nice I was and how helpful I was. A handwritten letter!

Yesterday, I was going through my old orders and found his. So, I decided to call him to see if the maker came and how he liked it.

His daughter answered the phone and told me he passed away two weeks ago. He never got to install the coffeemaker and she actually wanted to know how I could get it returned for her. I was like....

I told her just to bring it and the paperwork back to me in the store and I would process the return with dot com and get the refund onto his store card so they could close out the card. Usually, we don't take other company's returns, but I was so distraught over it that I told her to bring it to me.

So...now, I'm kinda sad. I mean, I didn't know the guy at all...

He never even got to use his coffeemaker.

[Lil Bunny]

Even with the warning, that brought tears to my eyes. I remember the amazing Customer Reps we delt with when mom died. You guys are amazing and deserve tons of hugs for dealing with us hysteric family members.

I salute you!

[LillFilly]

I am so sorry for you, he sounded like a really nice man. If they heard the story, I bet the family would hold-onto the coffeemaker for sentimental reasons.

[ShadowTiger]

I can completely empathize. :-/ It's not quite a death, but I met someone two months ago in my store who was just so absolutely enthused about the machines I was selling her, and then her house collapsed on her a few weeks ago. She lost everything, and had no insurance. She stopped in to get a few last minute supplies and say goodbye to the store that had been so good to her before moving to another state near her grandkids.

[depechemodefan]

I remembered me and mom bought my dad's Christmas gift, which was a coat, and Wieners. Then dad died 3 days before Christmas. We go to return the coat but we were told we still had to wait the 10 days for the check to clear to get a refund. Eh.

[Ree]

We had a man return an item last week.
He had bought it the previous week for his wife's birthday, and she passed away over the weekend.

The girls thought it was odd that he was returning it so soon, but I said that we never know how grief is going to affect someone, and maybe seeing it sitting there was just too hard on him.

I've had some real sweetheart customers who died.
It's always really sad because they're so rare.

[Kitten in the box]

We had this one regular "slower" guy come in our store all the time. He was the kindest gentlist guy you could ever meet and he knew everyone by name and would joke with everyone. Well one time I came in and everyone seemed down and I asked what was up. They said Steve (the guy's name) passed away. His sister came in and told everyone. I was like wtf??? He seemed so healthy. Turned out he had a brain anyrism and passed away peacefully in his sleep. He was in his 40's.

Another customer we had was wheelchair bound and quite elderly. Her name was Daisy and she was the sweetest old woman. I use to help her shop around all the time and one time an employee (for some reason she wasn't fond of. Hate and dislike was not in her vocabulary. she just chose to say she wasn't happy with them at the time.) I guess this employee was snippy with her so she told him to F*ck off in chinease. It was so funny to hear such a sweet old woman say that that I had do ask her what she said. She smiled and said I just told him to F*ck off...I just about fell over laughing We all missed her when she passed. Her caretaker at the nursing home came and told us that personally. Old age finally got her.

[Rine]

My customer's daughter still has not come with the coffeemaker. But I found his obit in the paper and he (or his family) asked for donations to charity in his memory, so I did donate some money, at least. I dunno...I just felt a weird connection to him.

I remember a customer for one of the local grocery stores. Actually, I think the majority of customers that shopped there knew of him or at least, has seen him ride his big three wheel tricycle up to the store. He was very elderly and used to give candy to the employees there. When he died, those employees were very sad. They put up a table with his picture on it and had a bowl of his favorite candy sitting on it.

I kind of missed him, too. Saw him for years and years and never knew his name or spoke to him. I guess it's just one of those things.

[Victoria J]

I'm sorry. I do get why you're sad - I'm amazed at suddenly writing so much below on my own somewhat similar story.

It's good when you do make a connection, however odd, I think.

We had this one regular "slower" guy come in our store all the time. He was the kindest gentlist guy you could ever meet and he knew everyone by name and would joke with everyone. Well one time I came in and everyone seemed down and I asked what was up. They said Steve (the guy's name) passed away.

In the neighbourhood where I work there was a man who had mental health problems - he lived in the hospital but wasn't in a locked ward. Every morning he got up and spent much of his day walking up and down our road and saying hello to people, then in the evening he'd get the bus back to the hospital.

I only knew him from seeing him in the street, and at one of our local cafes, but he did also visit our organisation - the manager was helping him recently.

He was really friendly and talked to everyone - but he kind of had a 2 minute loop of coversation, and once he ran out of that he wasn't really capable of talking. So he just spent all his time having the same conversation with as many different people.

He always talked to me, and a couple of my colleagues were also on his "list". We're opposite a fire station and he'd go in there to talk to the firemen, and loads of people up and down the street knew him. At Christmas he gave us all Christmas cards (and would get really anxious when in early November he hadn't got many back yet).

He hung out a lot at the cafe an they would take his Christmas cards in for him. He was no trouble at all except occassionally needing a cup of tea bought for him at the end of the week when his money was running short. Otherwise he'd sit out on walls.

Occassionally when I left work late we'd get the same bus, or if he wasn't quite ready to leave he'd be near the bus stop anyway. He'd stop the bus for me waving his hands like he was bringing in an aircraft.

Last month I returned to work after a week off - and one of my colleagues said "Are you going to the funeral ?", and that was the first I knew that he'd died. None of us did go - but the people from the cafe did. I was suprised how sad I felt, and I still miss seeing him on the street (particularly one bit I think of as "his" corner). I don't know why I felt a connection but I did. I also always found it kind of cheering that a lot of people were really pretty nice to him, and that he'd found a wierd kind of way of being happy and friendly even when he obviously wasn't very well at all.

Victoria J

[wagegoth]

About a year or so after my first husband died, I was doing temp work. It was for a credit card company, and what I did was call people to let them know their application had been approved, go over the upfront information, let them know their limit, when the card would be delivered, etc.

Twice in one week, I, and I was the only one, reached widowers whose wives had applied for the cards, but had just died within the last week. One was nice and we just closed the account. The other got very upset, accusing me of being a crank caller trying to make him feel bad. I got it worked out with him, even explaining that I had recently lost my husband, but it was hard.

I had to take a break, and I ended up not going back after that shift.


As for the OP's story, having someone that kind and generous die makes the whole world poorer.