The Fiery Crotch

In the evenings, I work on the sales floor in a retail store. Phone calls asking for information occur regularly. Most of these callers ask if we carry a certain product or have any on hand. Not all calls are the same.

The call happened about three years ago. I was straightening the shelves in my department when a phone call came for the health care section. I answered the call since this is a portion of my area.

The caller wanted to speak to the pharmacist, but the pharmacy closed earlier. The caller decided to see if I could assist. The caller asked me what she could put on her “itching crotch”. I informed her that I was not a pharmacist nor medically trained and could not offer an opinion. I would have thought that she would have stopped there and called an open pharmacy, but she persisted.

With a sense of urgency, she said her crotch itched so badly that it was on fire. She demanded that I give her the name of something that she could use to soothe the burning. I informed her once again that the pharmacy closed and would reopen the following morning.

“You do not understand how much my crotch itches; it burns so bad I cannot take it.” Without exaggeration, she repeated these words no less than six or seven times. She finally understood that I would not offer any medical advice and told me she would call back in the morning. She informed me, “I should be okay by then, and I have my son putting Aloe Vera on it for now.”

Not much surprises me; however, this last statement caught me completely off guard. You can never be positive about the person on the other end of a call. The voice did not seem to be an elderly person. The woman sounded to be an adult younger than middle age. I immediately felt bad for the child given this task.

I thought this must have been a joke a coworker was playing on me. After telling this story a multitude of time, no one has taken credit. I must assume the call was real.

I hope this woman received comfort. I hope this did not scar the child for life.

There are people in this world that have problems. They may not be physical problems. Some of these problems are messy. Sometimes people do not have others to “rub Aloe Vera” on them.

It takes a lot of love to help someone with his or her problems. We may try to dodge assisting because we are not trained professionals, but we can do something for them even if it is just taking time to listen.

Do not be afraid to get your hands dirty. Be there for people. It takes love and compassion. Treat others, as you want to be treated. Who knows? Maybe one day you will need help with a fiery crotch type of problem.