Gratitude at Trader Joe's
Yesterday, I went to my all-time favorite grocery store, Trader Joe's. On Sunday, there was a big snowstorm that rolled in and stuck around until Tuesday morning. So, I called before leaving the house to check if Trader Joe’s was open. Luckily enough, they were open and there was no wait to get in (which is extremely rare for Trader Joe’s nowadays). Because of the recent snowstorm, there were only about 10 other shoppers in the store with me so I had plenty of time to roam the aisles.
When I finished collecting everything on my list, I made my way to the checkout. What follows is a conversation with the person at the cash register.
I walk up to the register and the Trader Joe’s Crew Member asked, “Did you find everything that you were looking for?”.
I laugh and gesture towards my overflowing cart and said, “Yeah, I think I found about everything.”
He starts to ring up my items and asks, “How’d you spend your snow day yesterday?”
I respond, “Oh, I spent it working. I work remotely, from home, so it was a typical day. How’d you spend your snow day?”
He looks up from behind the register and said, “I actually went on a run in the snow. It was awesome!”
We talked back and forth for a little about running in the snow and then he asked, “So what do you do for work?”
I go on to tell him, “I am the Research Coordinator of a company that produces Gratitude Experiences.”
He stops working momentarily and says, “That’s so cool! So do you have people write in journals and stuff?”
I must’ve looked a little taken aback as I said, “Ah no, but it’s so funny you say that. We believe that writing your gratitude in a journal means you’re keeping it to yourself and not fully experiencing the benefits of gratitude. Gratitude is meant to be shared with others.”
I then go on to walk him through what a typical 7:47 Gratitude Experience looks like, with people answering the question, “If you could give credit or thanks to one person in your life, that you don't give enough credit or thanks to, who would that be?”. I explain to him that when people answer this question usually feelings of guilt, shame, regret, and anger come up because they never thanked this person. But by acknowledging these feelings, our attendees are able to make way for positive feelings and pay their gratitude back to that person or forward, if the person is no longer with us.
After explaining all of this the Crew Member looks up and says, “My mom passed away in December and I felt like I never actually got to thank her for everything. I was going through old emails I sent her and found one I sent on her birthday. In the email, I thanked her and shared how much I appreciate her. I’m really glad I found that and that I got to share all that with her.”
I stopped packing up my groceries and said, “That’s really amazing that you were able to express all of that to her. Some people who come to our experiences aren’t able to thank their person. We encourage them to pay their gratitude forward. That could be through mentoring the next generation with the knowledge the person who’s no longer with us taught you, it could be through volunteer work at the person’s favorite organization, or by telling the story of the person who is no longer with us, having their legacy live on.”
At this point, my groceries were paid for and packed in bags. The cashier sincerely said, “Thank you for sharing, it was great talking with you.”
I walked toward my cart and said, “Yeah, it was great talking with you too! Our company is called 7:47, like the time, if you’re interested in learning more. Have a great day!”
And that was it. That was the end of the conversation. What started as a simple trip to get groceries turned into a serendipitous moment of connection. So thank you, Trader Joe’s Crew Member. I’m sorry that I didn’t glance at your name tag or give you more information about 7:47. But I’m glad we connected and I am so glad you got to share your gratitude with your mom before she passed away.
If you somehow find this, please email us and come to one of our Community Gratitude Experiences! The same goes for anyone reading this. We would love to connect over gratitude with you. If you’re interested in when our next Community Gratitude Experience will be, subscribe to our newsletter.