Practising Quakerism

A man walks into a supermarket to buy frozen croissants. He scours the frozen food section without finding them. He sees an attendant. “Hey! You there, where are the frozen croissants?” He yells. “I’ll show you.” The attendant politely replies. When they reach the cabinet where the frozen bakeries are usually found, no frozen croissants. “Go get some, then.” Says the man, “And be quick about it, I don’t have all day to stand about here!”

The attendant returns with the shift manager, but no croissants. “I’m sorry, sir,” begins the manager, “someone came in earlier and bought our whole day’s stock.” “Don’t be a fool. Don’t you know I’m the chairman of the Josephson mine? I came here for frozen croissants, and that’s what I’ll have. Now!” “I’m sorry, sir! We just don’t have any.”

“Right! I’ll have both your jobs.” The man storms off.

Later on, a second man walks into the supermarket, also looking for frozen croissants. He scours the frozen food section without finding them. He sees an attendant. “Excuse me. Where can I find the frozen croissants?” “They’re over here, sir. I’ll show you.” But of course, when they get where the frozen croissants usually are, there are none. 

The man thought. “There is no other supermarket nearby. As far as I know, this is the only supermarket with frozen croissants.” The attendant said, “A man came in earlier and bought the whole of our day’s order of croissants.” The man thought some more, ”There’s not enough time for me to wait for my breakfast, while the store gets their next order. I’ll just have to do without.” The attendant pointed, “There are these other frozen bakery items, but they have chocolate in them.” “I don’t mind about chocolate. I’ll take a packet of them.”

By talking and cooperating, the store man made a sale he would otherwise have lost, and the man got his breakfast. But the bully walked away with nothing but his bad temper, leaving. Behind two people in a bad mood, perhaps fearful of losing their jobs for no good reason.

 The first man tried to frighten and bully the store staff with his supposed position and power to get his own way regardless of reality.

The second man treated the store staff with respect as equals, even though they called him ‘Sir’. In return, he got respect, help and his breakfast, while they made a sale. The bully got nothing but a mood of frustration, while the supermarket got bad feelings and lost a sale.

Quakers believe in respecting that of God in everyone and try to live their beliefs in practical life.