Sales staff great to the disabled.

[Sapphire Silk]

So, I'm temporarily "disabled" because of recent surgery to my left foot (to correct plantar fasciitis). I have to wear this big old stabilizing boot, and am non-weight bearing on that foot, which usually means crutches.

I'm finding out the hard way just what a colossal pain in the ass this is. I am so done with crutches.

Yesterday, I had to run a couple of errands. Firstly, I needed to stop by Petco and buy some kitty litter for Taz; she got sick in the litter box and I had to change out the litter and was out.

A sales girl greeted me at the door, saw the crutches, and asked if I needed help. I did, I said. I needed someone to carry the litter to the register, and to the car after I paid. I'm not able to manage a cart. So this gal happily shows me to where my litter brand is, grabs 2 bags at my request, and gets me checked out and back to my car real quick. Super nice about the whole thing; even moved some stuff out of the way for me to take me to the register around some dogs that were in the store (dogs were perfectly friendly, and I'm good with dogs, but I thought it was a nice thing to do).

Later, had to stop by the grocery store to get a few things for a BBQ at Evil Empryss's house. They have those motorized chair carts, which are really good. Customer Service was happy to keep my crutches at the desk for me, and when I checked out the bag boy was happy to carry my stuff to the car for me. It was really a pleasant experience. Normally, I don't like to ask for a lot of help, but I really needed it, and it was so nice to have staff who just smiled and helped me out.

[JustaCashier]

Several years back at the (non-big box) Hardware Store where I was a Cashier, I saw an elderly Gentleman, whom I had recalled seeing at the Store on one other occasion, shuffling from the parking lot, up the ADA ramp in-line with the exit doors.

This guy, and I'm not exaggerating, would be the poor soul you'd see step off the curb the second he got the WALK signal, and would probably only be about 3/4 across, as soon as cross traffic got their green (and that's with his WALK light being generous on crossing time).

Anyway, I went ahead and stepped in front of the exit doors to open them, and invited him to come in there, rather than walk the several feet to the entrance.

I then asked him what he needed, figuring if he only literally needed a couple or so items, that would be easy for someone else to grab for him, it would save him a lot of time. As it turned out, he did only need two easy to grab items; one from Plumbing, and the other from Inside Garden.

I put out to a call for help from each of the Departments, and as (good) luck would have it, got just about the most Customer Service oriented Employees form each. (Although most of Crew was good, and would have been nearly as eager to help). One of the Employees even asked the Customer if he needed anything else.

I didn't do this to rush the guy, I don't think we were anywhere near closing. I just remembered how long it took him on his prior visit, and wanted to save him a little time. Also took into consideration that his movement may have been painful, although he didn't show it outwardly.

This was one of those situations where everything fell right into its proper place, and the Customer really appreciated it!

Mike

[bean]

When I worked at the Whole (Whole Foods) as a cashier, I had a regular customer.

She was in a wheel chair, and had one leg. I bumped into her (while working another department) a couple of years before, and tried to help her out. Once I moved to cashier, she started coming to my line. Always. We did have a concierge shopping service (and the fee is normally waived for anyone that was disabled) - I'd offered this before, she didn't want it.

So instead, anytime I saw her coming up, as long as nobody was behind her, I'd turn off my light and toss the "next lane" sign on the belt, and help her unload everything. I'd ring her up, we'd BS plenty (sometimes with her home health aid with her), I'd bag everything up for her. Then follow her out to the car.

Being 1 leg, she drove an automatic. Thankfully a hatchback. I'd always load everything for her, help her into the car, load the wheel chair, etc. If I saw her pulling into the parking lot, I'd help her into the store - help her into her chair, push her in, etc.

You know what depresses me about this story? It sounds like I'm trying to brag - when I'm really just trying to say I treated her with dignity and respect, and tried to help as much as I could...

[Sapphire Silk]

Going through this makes me appreciate how easy it is to do normal things when I'm not hampered by crutches.

It's hard to cook.
It's hard to get around the house.
It's hard to shop.

Any time I have to carry anything, it either has to be small, or I need some kind of bag, or I need to be using my knee walker.

[fireheart]

Going through this makes me appreciate how easy it is to do normal things when I'm not hampered by <aid>

Any chance you can't use a forearm crutch or have something nearby for while you're cooking?

As for the quote, one of the things my highschool started offering when I was in Year 11 was a Driver Safety program*. Among the things you could do was experience what it was like for yourself to be in a wheelchair or similar aid. This was done during school and then in a location of your choice for one day (for the one in your location, you'd rock up and leave your mode of transport with whatever aid it was, so it didn't look like you were scamming anyone)

Nearly all of them were able to appreciate what it's like for someone in a wheelchair.

*=not to be confused with Drivers Ed. You could count your driving lessons (outside of school) for course credit, but the rest was mostly the "don't drive like a fucking idiot" type stuff.

ETA: Thank you for giving me some more inspiration to modify my blog a little bit. I've started a new blog which reviews all the shops around Adelaide (sorta critiques them too, but not so much in a mean and nasty way) and I was trying to think of something else that would set my blog apart.

[AccountingDrone]

Any chance you can't use a forearm crutch or have something nearby for while you're cooking?

You really can't use forearm crutches while cooking, you can however shove an axillary [armpit] crutch under your arms to prop you up, though I will make the comment that it does tend to compress nerves and surface blood vessels and can cause damage over time. They make rolling stools that are tripods with more or less bicycle seat type seats that are designed for people who can't stand for long periods of time to use in the kitchen.

[TheCheerfulTreeRat]

You really can't use forearm crutches while cooking, you can however shove an axillary [armpit] crutch under your arms to prop you up

The OP mentioned a knee walker, I assumed it was something like a pegleg/IWalkFree thingy.