The cashier had just rung up my purchases to the tune of $337.43 and I was about to hand her my credit card when there was a crash. A large stack of plastic hangers lay scattered about the floor and on top of a crying toddler. Mortified, his mother ran to her child, a few feet away, profusely apologizing the entire time . She swooped him up with one arm and set about putting things back in order with the other. The woman at the register was obviously perturbed. But, I couldn’t believe she would stoop to spew a venomous remark and cap it with the worst of racial slurs. I glared at her until she looked away. “Really? Really,” I asked incredulously in disgust, but walked away over to the mother. “Here, Honey, let me help you, that little bruiser has to be heavy,” I said taking the hangers from her hand and laying them on the table. “Stay here, I’ll grab the rest.” In a jif it was done. “Now how about a cup of coffee, my treat? I can’t stand to be in here a minute longer.” “Yes Ma’am, that would be nice. Thank you for being so kind,” the young black woman said smiling.

“Miss, your sale,” the cashier called to me as we headed to the door. “You made it as unwanted as your derogatory statement. But, my friend and I got all of the hangers back on the table, so you can start putting all of those clothes back on the rack. Have fun!”