Messages From Angels - Don't Hang Up: Leaving a Message at the Cell Phone Store (continued)

Messages from Angels

Once again I was surprised at my own behavior.  I knew that the tears were the Angels way of communicating how important it was for the young woman to take the message to heart; the tears also let her know that she is important and loved.  Even so, for a brief moment, I wondered if this sudden display of emotion might make an already unusual conversation even more so.  At the same time, I sensed that the tears were part of the message and that the emotional intensity spoke to something inside of the young woman; for this reason she would not be offended.

She tilted her head to one side. “Thank you,” she said and then gently interrupted me by holding up a finger, “One second.”  She dashed away to help an impatient customer.  The tips of her long brown hair hung for an instant in the air before trailing after her rushing body.

Although a new charger had been located and successfully tested, there was still the obstacle of paying for it.  Also, the young woman had not received all of her message.  There was more that she needed to hear.

While she helped the other customer, I went outside to consult with my sister who still stood patiently by the tree.  Her hands were still stuffed in her coat pockets.

“Do you know where there is a cash machine?” I asked, “The employee doesn’t want the other customers to see her ringing me up. Maybe if I had cash it’d be easier for her and we’d get out of here faster.”

“Yeah,” my sister said, “We can get some cash.”

I went back in the store to tell the employee that I was going to get her cash.  To my surprise she held out her hand.  Emboldened now, she asked for my debit card.

 “We’re going to do it now,” she said definitively, taking my card and walking off toward a cash register with my card.  

Before we could finish the transaction she had to activate a gadget that would prompt the cash register to give me permission to pay. The gadget malfunctioned. 

“Should I just swipe my card?” I asked hopefully. 

“Well, that won’t do any good until this machine,” she said, pointing to the defunct gadget, “talks to the cash register and tells it that you can,”

I began to feel impatient and a little desperate. Part of me wanted to act out my irritation but I did not. Rebellion would not speed things up. Emotional connection is lost on heartless machines. I stifled my feelings also because I knew that I was here with this woman for a reason.  I was co-conspirator with the angels in getting her this message; I was a conduit between these angelic beings and this young employee. It was important to honor what I was being called upon to do.  I also admired her ability to keep her cool.

The employee and I brainstormed about how to get the cash register working.  The angry voices of neglected customers punctuated our conversation.  The next part of the message for her came through.

I gave a small laugh. “You are imprisoned by technology! Literally!”

“You can say that again!” she murmured, smiling softly, still fiddling with the gadget.

She excused herself and ran off to get a replacement gadget only to have trouble with the new one. Calmly, she set it down on the counter. “That’s okay,” she said, “We’ll just do it without your personal information.” 

I remembered that she had been trying to input my phone number into the gadget in order to get the cash register to work. I wondered why the company had felt that the gadget, like the electronic clipboard, was necessary, especially with so few customers in the store. 

(for more, see next post)