Client at Sleep Number
I used to be a delivery and installation technician for Sleep Number. I used to work with my "partner" at the time but that day I had a temp worker. We arrived at the customers house to install their bed. We get almost all the way installing the bed when the lady of the house, who was watching the whole time, had to leave the room to answer the door. When she came back another van was working in the front living room. She told us that two weeks prior she and her husband were had gone to one of our stores to buy this bed. But a week later her husband fell ill and they had to go to the hospital. He was diagnosed with a terminal illness that has been lingering for years untreated and there was nothing that could be done. The door was a technician from a medical supplier who was there installing a hospital bed in the next room. Where her husband would be brought home to to die after a few days. She was taking it very well. Saying he was going to a better place with God. I could still sense she was in a lot of pain. After the install I give the demo and talk to her. I could really tell she was having a little harder time now and I offered her a hug. She hugged me hard and stared crying and saying she doesn't want him to go. I try as hard as I can to not cry but I still tear a tiny bit. After I comfort her for I bit we pack up and get on our way. I drove a few blocks and pull over to recover a bit. I almost asked my boss if I could go home early because of it but I decided to finish the day. It was the single hardest installation I had ever done for a reason I wasn't prepared for. This was a few years ago. But I hope she's doing well.
Posted Jan 2, 2022, 4:13 PM UTC
How basic-human of you, to offer comfort and sympathy for someone else.
I saw a Reddit earlier that said, 'It's the small things that fill a heart', and this fits.
She may have been trying to hold everything together, because that is what we do. Thank you for being there for someone else, through a very difficult time.