HAZLE TOWNSHIP -- A woman who became ill at a department store in Luzerne County says it turned into the best holiday shopping experience she has ever had.
On the verge of the Black Friday shopping madness, that woman is praising her experience last weekend at Boscov's near Hazleton as the way holiday shopping should be.
The holiday shopping season can be hectic with the rush of people trying to catch Christmas sales.
To try to avoid much of that chaos, Rose Marie Longeway of Hazleton went to her nearby Boscov's this past weekend to pick up Christmas presents early. But after arriving at the department store, Longeway began to feel ill.
"I felt like I was going to pass out," she said.
Thankfully, a sales associate was standing nearby.
"She just grabbed on my arm, you can tell she was getting a little tired," said Boscov's worker Chris Vincent.
Vincent and a team of employees at Boscov's helped the woman, checking her blood pressure, and getting her some orange juice.
"We got her some Hershey Kisses, too, because, you know, a little sugar always helps."
After a few minutes, Rose Longeway felt better.
"Thank you, thank you very much from the bottom of my heart."
She was grateful for the help and even more grateful for an offer from the department store manager.
"I could see she was a little bit disappointed. So we sat and waited with her for a little bit and talked," said manager Kim Gormley.
Gormley offered to have someone push Longeway around the store in a wheelchair and help her pick up all her holiday presents.
"I was taken aback. I said, 'Well, that would be great!' That's what they did, they rolled me around to all the departments I wanted to go to," Longeway recalled.
Rose was wheeled around the store for about two hours picking up Christmas gifts. By the time she got to the register, she wound up spending double what she intended to, but was happy to do so. That was her way of paying back the store for their great customer service.
"Honestly, if a lot of companies did that, they would probably get that kind of reaction, too."
At the very least, it would add a little more cheer and fun to someone's holiday shopping experience.