Being in customer service for a living has its ups and downs, but very few extremes either way.  Yesterday, however, was one of those.  I had a customer, who between a language barrier and a misunderstanding of her order, had a total meltdown in front of me while we were 5 deep in each line at lunch.  Finally with the help of two supervisors we were able to almost make her happy..but she was still very angry and would not even let us carry her order to her table.  Sigh.

About 30 minutes later, she approached my register and waited until I was free, and haltingly apologized and told me that she wanted to order one more thing.  So I rang up her order, took her money, and handed her the change..which she immediately waved away and said, “you keep!  I was ugly..you keep!”

She walked away while I stood there openmouthed and counted the change..it was $.42.  I thought about the fuss, my splitting headache, and the delay other customers experienced..and she was giving me $.42 to make up for it.  Now, i did appreciate the apology, especially since she didn’t have to.  Yet I was left feeling a little shortchanged in the whole process.

AND YET!  Just as I was feeling a little self-righteous about the whole thing, God stopped me in my tracks by this thought and this verse…Isaiah 64:6..which calls OUR righteousness in God’s eyes filthy rags.  In other words, any attempt on our part to apologize to God for ANY of our sin is just like that $.42…totally ineffective and a totally unrealistic of the impact of that sin!  I took a quick minute to express to my Savior once again the gratitude I have for His totally undeserved grace.  And I now have a permanent reminder for every time I feel self righteous..I’ll just remember forty-two cents!