A universal language

It was a busy, steady night.

4th of July Weekend, and that means a lot of people travel.

This account isn't about one customer in particular, rather a re-occurring theme from the night.

For a Holiday weekend mainly celebrated as an American thing, there were sure a lot of foreign travelers tonight.

Some of them can usually speak English, and in my fumbling and friendliness we can still come to an understanding that leaves us both smiling as we part ways.

However tonight on more than one occasion I had the opportunity to host customers who did not speak any English at all.

Fortunately, given the immediate needs that can be met at my location, spoken language is not the only form of communication.

As they walk in, smiling to be friendly and polite, their hurried steps and frantic pace speak a universal language that you'd have to be pretty blind to miss.

As their eyes dart about, they look to me and I kindly point to the corner of our store.

The corner where our bathrooms reside. The following smile, flashed briefly as they turn their back, is one of pure gratitude. Caring for your neighbor in the simplest way.

Next shift is tomorrow morning.

Maybe it was their Paradise?

I was working like any other night, it was on the slow side.

The night is starting to wind down and the time is starting to the point where 1st shift workers start to come in.

A full sized van hauling a trailer pulled into the station. At first I think nothing of it, you see all kinds of vehicles after all.

About 10-15 young adults come out. They are all dressed formally. The women are in skirts and nice conservative tops. The men are in dress shirts. They are young so my first thought is they must be some traveling conservative Christian college group going somewhere. At GLCC we would go out to Wisconsin for one of our games and at that school you'd see apparel that was similar.

However, as I interact with them it becomes very apparent they are not a Christian group. They aren't swearing or acting rude or anything. They buy doritos, red bulls and two of them even buy cigarettes!

I try to ask a few what their group is and they shy away from the question. Like they don't want to answer or they want to keep it a secret. I deduct that they are going skiing up north, and they are not from a school or commune, but are a group of friends coming from the Fort Wayne area.

I finally crack and as the last one if they are a Mennonite group, based on how familiar they are with our "modern marvels" like red bulls and marlboros. He politely says "No, we're Amish."

I didn't know Indiana Amish smoke Marlboros and drank Red Bulls. I guess you learn something every day!

Just not something you expect to encounter when working. Especially when an Amish person produced a State ID card to buy cigarettes.

Next shift is tonight.