THE overworked staff of a busy clothes shop have found great comfort in the sympathy of a woman who knows what it is like because she worked in retail once.
While Donna Sheridan’s dozens of hard-to-fold items were being packed, she gracefully took a moment to empathise with employee Lucy Parry by saying that she too had worked in a shop back when she was in sixth form.
Speaking through tears, Parry said: “When Donna took that whole minute to share that she, now a successful woman buying five tops at a time, had been where I am and pass on advice about cash handling not relevant since 1998, I was too moved to speak.
“Just knowing I faced a fellow soldier who understood the pressure got me through the rest of the shift. And she wasn’t afraid to get hands-on, pointing out I was folding her jacket wrong and showing me how to do it.
“Knowing she used to be one of us made the whole interaction so much more. Suddenly she wasn’t an annoying busybody customer but a fellow soldier down here in the trenches. And a ray of hope.
“If I ever make it out of here, if I ever end up earning halfway to six figures like Donna does, I’ll thank her. For taking that moment. For being so inspiring.”
Donna said: “All in a day’s work. Later I’ll tell a depressed friend that I was sad once, but I got over it.”
