New Customer

New Customer,  Copyright ©2010 by Ken West, all rights reserved


There’s a guy on the sidewalk selling something. I pass by without stopping.


“Next time, I’ll get you,” he shouts to me good naturedly.


I turn and walk back to him. He sits on a black plastic milk crate, a bearded, youngish guy with some front teeth missing.


“What are you selling?” I ask.


“Smiles and greetings,” says the guy.


“How’s business,” says I.


He smiles, slaps his knee, shakes his head. “Not too bad, but I haven’t got you as a customer yet.”


So, I reach in my wallet, pull out a dollar bill and put it in his collection cup. “OK, I’m a customer now.”


“Thank you, sir,” he says, and gives me his best, top-of-the-line smile. “Have a great day and I’ll see you soon, I hope.”


I smile back and head down the street to check the job listings at the unemployment office. For some reason the guy’s smile made me feel a lot better. Few people, even when I was working, bothered to smile at me. The guy on the black plastic milk crate now has a new customer.



Ken West, a former U.S. Army paratrooper, is president of Better Grip Media LLC and author of Get What You Want! Workbook… available worldwide on Amazon.com and other online booksellers. In the U.S. at http://bit.ly/alF9vp.