Changing the World (By Changing the Way We Think About Dollar General)

What do you think about when you’re in Dollar General? Many folks think of only two things: getting what they need and getting out. But there’s something else to consider whenever you enter a convenience store, fast food restaurant, or gas station: the workforce.

What do you think about when you interact with the employees of Dollar General? Again, many folks think of only two things: ring up my stuff and get me out. They mindlessly tap on their phone as they simultaneously swipe their card for whatever they have to pick up on their way to wherever they’re going. The employee goes unnoticed.

Some folks don’t even think of people like Terese when they interact with an employee working for less than $15 an hour. If they do see them, it’s often in a negative light — assuming that they’re working a low-wage or minimum-wage job because they’ve rolled downhill in life and this is where they landed.

Ms. Terese, lying in bed after surgery. Photo by IsaacCropsey.com

They don’t see that many of these folks, like Terese, have been fighting an uphill battle and have overcome much to make it to employment.

Terese lives in Poe Mill. She is recently widowed and works at Dollar General. If you saw her working there, what would you think?

Would you think about how she woke up in a small house full of reminders of her late husband? Would you think about how she either walked to work that day or spent a significant portion of her daily wages to Uber there if the weather was bad?

Would you think about how she is thankful to be at her thankless job because, before that, she and her husband were homeless for a while?

Would you think about how you might make her day better rather than being a tough part of a tough day at a tough job?

She is among the best people you’ll ever meet. And you may not only get to see her, but you may get to meet her, and the hundreds of thousands of workers like her, if you change the way you think when you walk into places like Dollar General.

It starts with us all becoming more present in the moment, even routine, mundane, stop-along-the-way moments. Changing the way we think requires practicing awareness in the midst of the everyday.

Awareness means believing that Jesus sovereignly draws us into every place we go and He purposefully crosses our path with everyone we interact with while we’re there. It’s understanding that, to Jesus, the point of leading you to even the most everyday places may not be to buy your life with everyday people.

This is how Jesus lived. Jesus did some of his most incredible works while just sitting by wells, Ubering across the sea, walking down the street to the synagogue, and going out for a bite.

If you practice awareness and follow our incredible Jesus, you’ll realize you don’t have to be in incredible places to meet incredible people or for incredible things to happen as you interact with them.

If you don’t practice awareness, you may assume that a person like Terese is a dime a dozen. Maybe you’ll even assume she has it easy. She just has to show up, stand behind a cash register, and then go home and watch TV. She doesn’t know what it’s like to have a job or a life as hard as yours. You’re unique. Your day matters. Your time matters. Ring me up. Get me out.

Then the only incredible thing that will happen is your incredible rudeness when you verbalize your frustration with her for a decision that corporate executives have made. Or, her least favorite thing, you’ll show her incredible inconsideration when you fill up your cart and halfway through shopping decide you don’t want something, so instead of putting it back where you picked it up, you’ll just shove it onto the nearest shelf.

If you do that, you can be sure Terese doesn’t have it easy. Her job is now even more difficult because she has to run around putting all of your things back in the right spots, as someone waits frustratedly for her to return to the register.

She is thankful for her job at Dollar General. But she doesn’t have it easy.

IsaacCropsey.com

When we met with her recently, we saw that she was not just going home and watching TV. She was preparing to undergo surgery that will put her out of work for 6–8 weeks. She was trying to figure out how to pay the rent until she can re-apply and be rehired by a place like Dollar General. And she was a little worried about going stir-crazy while on bed rest.

We followed up with Terese after her surgery. It went well. We were able to connect her to a local organization that helped her with rent for at least one month so she could just rest. Her grandson comes and visits her. She has a friend coming over to check on her from time to time.

She’s going back to work soon. So perhaps next time you’re at Dollar General, you can see her, meet her, and make her, and her co-workers around the world, day better by simply changing the way you think when you walk into the store.

This article origionally appeared in Griggs Church’s community newspaper: Saltbox Quarterly.