Grocery Shopping

While I was grocery shopping this evening I ran into a co-worker. That was good to see him outside of work. He's a good guy. Later, as I was making my way down the pickle and salad dressing aisle a young man looked me square in the eye an tapped me on the shoulder. He pointed to a list that he had. He was looking for something. It dawned on me that the young man was deaf. Where I live there is a sizable deaf community. Fortuanately for me, I had just passed by and even pondered purchasing the item that he was looking for. He signed "thank you." I stuggled for the "welcome" sign. He knew that I was. He showed me and I reciprocated with the appropriate sign. I felt terribly inadequate. I thought of how much courage it must have taken that young man to ask someone for help. I don't even know if he really wanted the particular style of item that he wanted. I thought of going back to ask him, but then, how would I ask him? The experience makes me want to learn a little bit of sign language. Then the cashier was really great. She went above and beyond what she had to do. She even used my name and said "Thank you Anna, have a nice evening." I said "Thank you, Claire, you too." I always try to use people's names when I can.