Question:
B”H
Kavod haRav,
Thank you for your help. I am seeking clarification if something that happened could be considered Chillul Hashem?
I had a pleasant interaction with one of the female workers at a supermarket, she offered to help me with something, and I thanked her. I made sure to go to her checkout isle upon checkout. The items were scanned and she said the total amount. This is the part I am not sure about: I asked her to (I think I said please, but not sure) have the one dairy item in a separate bag from the various meat items. Her tone changed and this seemed to upset her, almost the type of reaction as if I had offended her. This was very not like the pleasant interaction I had previously. I was thinking about it afterwards, and of course my yetzer hara tried to guilt me with thoughts of “you should have smiled, or smiled more, or been even friendlier, or maybe you asked the diary to be separated too soon to after she mentioned the total, maybe she felt disrespected somehow by you…) My question(s) are:
1. Did I somehow make a Chillul Hashem? I try to keep meat and dairy separate in the packages so there are no spills. Even if I had a momentary lapse in being friendly (which I’m not even sure is even the case, I was simply focused on getting the one dairy item into a bag…), could her reaction make the experience a Chillul Hashem? (B”H – thank you for help with this.)
2. If it is a Chillul Hashem, how should it be fixed? Go back to the store and simply try again to be friendly?
Thank you sincerely for your help and guidance. It really is appreciated.
Answer:
Hello,
From what you are describing it doesn’t sound like a chillul Hashem. She might have been in a bad mood because of something someone else said to her in between the two interactions that you had. Additionally, even if it had to do with what you said, she ight have misunderstood what you said, and gotten upset. At this point there isn’t much that you have to do about this, and you should also not be concerned about it.
Best wishes
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