Sunday 22 February 2009

The kindness of a stranger

Saturday I drove up with James up to a town half hour north of here. He had a meeting to attend and I figured I'd do the grocery shopping. On my way into the store I saw a posted sign: "free bag of potatoes with a purchase of $50 or more". Since potatoes were on my grocery list, score! And they were a bag of nice premium potatoes.

I shopped around, filling my cart. But because I was going to another store afterwards that had a $1 sale on, I only needed to get half of my items in this store. Heading to the cashier, I mentally counted up the cost of my items, and quickly realized that I would barely hit $40. Ah well. Potatoes are cheap and I could pick them up in the next grocery store.

In rang my items one by one...grand total: $45.50 Yes, I was less than $5 off. I laughed about how close I'd come, but being the type of person who hates to make a scene, didn't even consider running to get one or two more items to reach $50. I handed over my debit card and packed my bags into my cart.

I'd finished faster than anticipated, so I had a while to wait until James would be back. With no place to wait but outside int he cold or at the end of the checkout aisles, you can easily guess where I parked my winter-hating body. I maneuvered the best I could out of everyone's way and just stood.

10 minutes passed. Then a man came through the checkout. "Since you've spent $50, we are offering a free bag of potatoes. Would you like one?" the cashier offered. The man smiled in surprise and looked up at me - "I guess this is my lucky day!" he exclaimed. I laughed with him. "I only hit $46," I replied with mock sadness. The man pulled his wallet out to pay. "Do you have a brood at home to feed?" he asked looking at my cart. "Yep," was my answer. "Well, here you go." He lifted the bag of potatoes from his cart and placed it in mine.

I was surprised and so very grateful. I expressed my thanks as he left. I know we both walked away that morning filled with the joy of an impromptu kind moment.

Thank you.

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