My Charming Wife
March 21, 2009
Rebekah is charming. People instinctively like her and want to help her out. While I have long known this, I got a chance to see the phenomenon in full force the other day. We went into a business together, and ‘Bekah asked the fellow behind the counter for something that was, strictly speaking, against company rules. He found a way to stretch the rules and help her out, though, and without her having to plead, threaten or make any kind of a scene.
Mere moments later, at a different counter, ‘Bekah asked the lady to go above and beyond, and she did as ‘Bekah asked without even batting an eye.
Now, this may not seem remarkable to some of you, but it is not how I generally go through life. In the same situation, I would be given any number of dismissive comments:
“Sorry, sir, I can’t help you”
“Rules are rules”
“That’s really not my job, sir”
“But I don’t have the combination to the safe!”
“If you persist in using that kind of language you will be ejected from the premises”
And countless other less-than-helpful responses.
How is it that Rebekah just glides through these transactions so effortlessly? In the car after this twin killing, I decided to ask her. This is what she said:
“Well, I been grifting for awhile now. Worked most of the major cons – women’s clothing, jewelry, children’s clothing, even greenhouses. I got plenty of experience telling people ‘Oh, you look stunning in that dress’ or ‘what, orchids? – they’re just about the easiest plant to take care of’, and I don’t know how many grandfolks I fleeced working with the Children’s Mercantile mob out of old town.”
I must say that I don’t find the answer convincing, however. I have worked my share of retail jobs, and I don’t seem to have cultivated the same way with people. I’m pretty sure that there is such a thing as raw natural charm, and that ‘Bekah possesses a double share of it.
