Helpful Technology

 As I've said in previous posts, I work at a vape shop. For privacy reasons I'll reference the company as 'Authentic Vapes'. 

My average day at work consists mostly of cleaning the surfaces of the shop, maintaining the displays and serving customers as they come and go throughout the day. We're located on a small side road just on the outskirts of the city. 

While my time working can be rather mundane and at times boring if we're particularly quiet (I always make sure to refrain from using said word for risk of invoking the manic-customer gods that retail and NHS workers cower in fear before). I also find that my day can be remarkably rewarding, specifically when I help a customer finally kick their smoking habit.

The day in which I am talking about was fairly normal, we were running a Black Friday event and had reduced the price of most of our stock to barely more than a few pounds with such a drastic price drop, I had a few people come by in search for products at a fraction of the price they usually paid. 

One of these customers was a gentleman. He couldn't have been described as tall, but he had an air of height that can only be gathered from a forced confidence that had been built in navigating a foreign land. His home, as I found out, was Bulgaria. I'd never truly had any exposure to the country, or indeed it's citizens. But from what I saw in the man who frequented my quaint little store, I'd be more than happy to interact with many, many more people from said country.

He wanted a very specific liquid, now the request itself wasn't a difficult one to fulfill as the kind of vape juices he used were our most abundant range. I clumsily explained the price and he readily handed his money to me, but I didn't want to charge the man full price purely because he didn't understand my language.

So, I did what I believe everyone else, if they had the time, should do for those who may not be native to your country or language. I tried to communicate to him. I tried to explain Black Friday, and the deal we had on offer. But, as you can imagine, he had no clue what I was saying. I tried to explain I could make the price cheaper for him. I even used hand gestures. But, no matter what I did, he would reply with a solemn shake of his head and an apology in his broken English.

So, in a last ditch effort I grabbed my phone. I have a Google Pixel 3 XL. Now I am not in any way a tech reviewer, nor am I sponsored by Google (I wish!). But the services that came pre-installed on the phone was what came to our aid, in this particular moment. 

I searched for my Google Translate App and quickly tapped in my message, and held the device out to him, requesting him to input his language. Once 'Bulgarian' was selected, I then showed him my phone and a gleaming smile appeared on his face as he nodded and brokenly thanked me for my help. 

I rang him up and the man gratefully paid the discounted amount before thanking me once more and leaving the store. 

As someone who enjoys helping people and someone who loves their job, I love going above and beyond in the attempt to help people out as much as possible, ensuring their vaping needs are met.

But this particular instance hit me at my core in a way no other encounter had before. I felt proud of myself and I too had a gleaming smile on my face even after the man had left the store and drove away. 

I apologise for the slightly different topic of this particular post, but I truly wanted to share with you the experience I had in serving this customer.

Stay cheeful! Devs out!