I love to pop into the ARC thrift store on Colfax when I’m in the neighborhood. I did so yesterday but the smell of urine almost made my eyes water even though I was by the used housewares and not used underwear. Everything with a blue tag was half off so I shopped through the pain. It’s called discipline, people. I found a few awesome shirts by good makers and scarfed them up half off at $2.50 each. I also found three vintage/classic ties, all orange tagged so they wanted the full $3.99 each.

When I was checking out, I was about 3 deep in the line, but close enough to the register to hear what was going on. A woman was buying some kind of flat notebook sized nylon case. I heard the clerk tell her that particular item was not half off because it had no blue ticket. The woman protested, and said everything else where she found it had a blue ticket and she wanted it for half off. The clerk said, “I’m sorry ma’am, but what you are buying is not a toy or a game or an article of clothing. Do you still want it at full price for $1.99?

The shopper put two dollar bills and both of her hands down on the checkout counter and just stared with disgust at the clerk. It was a little awkward for those of us in line. Finally, she broke her silence and said, “I f*#&ing want it, but that’s all I’m giving you.” I’d been anticipating the tax might be a problem so I scrambled for14 cents as if I was at gunpoint. The clerk accepted it and thanked me kindly; the shopper sniffed us off, grabbed the notebook, went 10 feet away and complained loudly to the manager how she’d just been treated and what a rip off it was.

The manger was impressively gentle but firm. My clerk stayed poised even though we could all hear the complaining woman running her through the ringer until something triggered her and she said loudly back to the manager, “And she never even thanked him”. Then she turned to me saying, “I’m so sorry about that. We are going to give you one of these ties for free.”

It still (uncharacteristically) smelled like urine and the acrimony of the disgruntled shopper left a scent, but the insistent good cheer and dignified kindness of the manager and my clerk wafting so beautifully in the air prevailed. It reminded me of the Apostle Paul’s words, “We are the aroma of Christ.” I smelled him the other day.