Niceness seems to reign in Washington state

People, overall, in Washington state are just willing to help and pleasant. We made a quick trip to the local hardware today and Leon was hoping I wouldn't go in; he knew something we didn't really need would leave with me. It did. They had an artificial tree on sale; I literally stuck my face in the branches and smelled the display model, no chemical smell!

Going on the assumption that the boxed one would have a strong chemical odor, I told Leon I wanted the display model. He asked the cashier as we were checking out. She seemed a bit puzzled; I chimed in that I was sensitive to chemicals.

She said simply (and NICELY!), "I'll take care of it," grabbed the tag from the tree, and paged someone to take it apart enough to get it in the car. We were out of there in just a few minutes, complete with its box and a huge grin on my face (and a smirk directed at Leon). So, the copper tree may still get made later this week, 'cause I have wanted it, but for today, tradition won and it just reinforced our amazement that in Washington customer service and just plain niceness is the rule rather than the exception.