Today...today was a short shift, but absolutely heartbreaking. I was at returns, and I got a woman returning some tile mats. I asked the standard "anything damanged or defective?" and her soft, sad reply was "No. I bought them for my kitchen that is no longer there."

A little later I had a woman who just wanted to charge her phone while the people she was with were looking at flashlights. She started talking, and I nearly cried. She'd been out of the country, so no one was home to prepare her house, and had only just gotten back. Her entire first floor flooded and will have to be gutted because of mold. She didn't know how she was going to get to work because public transit still isn't running this far south. There was so much to do that she had no idea where to even start, and started crying just thinking about it. All I could do was get her a seat so she could rest and get herself together, look up the numbers for FEMA and the Red Cross so she could start applying for aid and get some help getting food and shelter, and wish her luck.

I had the energy to work longer, and offered to, but I'm glad I was told I could go home.  It's easier than I thought it would be to stay calm and understanding, but it makes me really feel for these people if they're saying that some random employee at a returns counter is the nicest and most helpful person they've met in the past week.