Quote by Eleanor Roosevelt

First Lady, mother to six children, author of six books and in her spare time helped to write the Universal Declaration of Human Rights…Mrs Roosevelt makes me not getting around to unload the dishwasher look rather pathetic.

What I like best about her is that she  was orphaned at a very young age (oh and that she was in a margarine commercial) and never used this as a disadvantage. Plus she achieved so much in the 1930s when most women were voiceless…

In this context the quote above becomes more potent.

Plus, it’s true. Nobody can make you feel anything – unless you let them. You are in control of your emotions. I watched a lady flip out in Asda’s a few Saturday’s a go. She was disgruntled by the queue, then something the checkout man had mumbled, it was a hot day and as she yelled she repeated that her dog and husband was in the car (I hope she left the window open for her husband) and she didn’t have time ‘for all of this’ – unemotional and distant from the situation I looked on and if I’m honest found it rather humorous, my guess is she was angry / frustrated before she entered the store…

3 rules to entering a supermarket:

1. Don’t bring the kids if you don’t have to
2. Don’t shop when you’re hungry – it will cost you a fortune
3. Supermarkets are designed to increase your emotions – NEVER enter when you’re having a bad day.

And so the ‘all of this’ that SHE had created was causing her far more stress than anybody else. As she made her way to customer services to complain (and my heart went out to the unbeknown customer service team) I prepared myself to cheer up the sad cashier sat in front of me.

He however had obviously seen the quote above, perhaps even read Eleanor’s autobiography because his attitude was generally positive and untouched by ‘crazy hot woman / husband and dog in the car’ episode. Now I realise we all have bad days and I also realise that in a checkout she may not have been the first crazy lady of the day, but he exemplified this quote. He simply chose not to absorb her negatively. I praised him for how he handled the situation and he seemed genuinely grateful, as I made my way out of the store I decided to be a little more like him, I would have made customer services aware but there was a queue and ‘crazy lady’ was at the back of it…plus it was a hot day and my husband was in the car 😉

P.S Happy Birthday Mum x