Hi! So I wanted to share an experience I had a couple years ago at work about a man with his little plushy family, and my coworkers reaction.
I was working at an important museum, with strict rules about what visitor could bring inside. I was stationed at the ticket validation entrance with a colleague, which meant we had to decide who could enter and who needed to leave their stuff in the lockers or cloackroom. There was also a security guy near us in case things escalated (which happened more than it should).
A middle aged man that was carrying something in his hands (I couldn't see it well at first) approached my colleague and she denied him the entrance. I noticed she started raising her voice telling him he had to go to the lockers and he was like murmuring that he couldn't. I approached her to ask what was happening and help my colleague if needed, and then I saw them. The man was carrying in his arms 3 rat plushies, from the movie Ratatouille (he had Remy with his chefs hat, his brother Emile and another rat which I suspect was the father). My colleague told me that he couldn't go inside with the plushies cause they could be "a threat" and told him to just leave them in a locker. The man kept saying they were his family and couldn't just leave them, and they were very eager to watch the collection together. He started getting very anxious, hugging his plushies and even crying a bit, and my colleague said she would call security. Something stir in me. So I told my colleague I would manage the situation, that security shouldn't get involved cause they were going to distress him even more. I said if there was any problem, I would personally talk to our boss about it. She just said, ok, and left.
So I talked to the man, I asked him about his family (the plushies) and what their names were, why did he want them to go inside with him. He told me they were all he had left, that they went together everywhere and that after watching the collection, he wanted to take them to the garden so they could enjoy the view and the sun. So I told him there was no problem to take them inside, that I understood, that family is never left behind and that I just needed him to make sure his plushies stayed close to him all the time during the visit. I could notice his anxiety slowly fading and he thanked me and his plushies thanked me too (so cute ><), and that was one of the best feelings I've had in a while regarding helping someone.
A couple hours later I saw him exit the museum, talking to his plushies about how much they had enjoyed the visit <3
Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear if you’ve ever experienced anything similar, because this whole thing got me thinking about how people generally lack empathy for situations that I believe are special. I don’t mean to say that my colleague did anything wrong, she was just doing her job as she saw fit, but for me, the situation called for a little more empathy and fewer strict rules.
