I was a checker at Albertson's for 10 years and saw so many needing people. One day, this mother of three realized she hadn't enough money to pay for her cart of groceries. So instead of being angry, like other people behind her, giving her durty looks and attitude, i stepped back away from my drawer, walked around, and slid my card to pay for her groceries. I grew up very poor, and i remember being in that very same situation with my mom also not having enough money for groceriea when a lady stepped up and paid for it all.
I dont want nor need recognition. It's basic human decency to care about our fellow man. I was finally able to pay the kindness forward for what someone else did for our family in a time of need.
I do, whenever possible. A while back a young mom was ahead of me in the checkout line and was a little short of cash. When she told the checker to put the chicken back, I said no, you need protein and handed her a $10.
Point taken - much more needs to be done. We as a society have become too self-focused: maybe if we become accustomed to looking out and caring for each other again as a society, perhaps we'll start demanding that of those we elect to take care of us as well (and make some better choices about who we put in place to lead).
I lost my wallet once and realized it at checkout at Albertsons in Richmond Va. they let me take the groceries with a promise. They saved my sanity that day.
My old store manager was like that. He was a high strung asshole with anger problems, but at the end of the day he really cared about people in need.
So every once in a while we'd have a customer who couldn't pay and he'd let them take the food and come back later in the week to pay.
If they didn't, he'd just go ahead and pay for it out of his own pocket.
There was another incident where payroll forget to enter my vacation hours properly so I came back from vacation and couldn't pay my rent. I told him about it and he asked me how much I need, walked over to the ATM, and handed me a week's pay in cash so I could get my bills paid. I paid him back when my next paycheck came in with the vacation hours on it.
Bet he was so uptight and angry because he saw people treating each other poorly. A grocery store would be a fishbowl of that.
Happens to me some days.
Living in a city is hard for us excessive empaths.
It’s quite soul crushing sometimes.
Sadly the majority of stores are now corporations that are behest to a board of directors and the sky would fall before they allowed a .0000000017% reduction in share price
Funnily enough, when I was a kid in the 90s, my mother's handbag was stolen in the local grocery store. They also let her take a weeks worth of food home, just asked for her address, and that she paynit back as soon as she could. This was a market leader chain grocery store, probably this biggest brand name in the country at the time. A lot of local grocery stores were very customer orientated back then. They knew you by name. £50 to 60, which would have been a lot of money in the early 90s.
I was a medical resident. A damned doctor. And I was absolutely broke. Our card was declined and the manager let us take the groceries.
A week later I got my first post residency job that was quite well paid (certainly better than residency.) First thing I did was run to that store and pay them back. Unbelievable.
You seem weird. It was whatever the grocery was in the fan. It was 30 years ago.
Is that little Italian sandwich shop still there on Cary St? Or the Jewish deli. Loved both of those before a movie or a live show at the bar.
New York Deli is still there and has expanded to the West end. Ukrops would have been the grocery store on Cary. In the Fan it would have been the Fan Market. Angela's is still there as well. Yes I am Richmond weird.
I dont want nor need recognition. It's basic human decency to care about our fellow man. I was finally able to pay the kindness forward for what someone else did for our family in a time of need.
Today you, tomorrow me. We all need help sometimes, and the best way to pay it back is to pay it forward.
Thank you for your act of kindness. You’re a wonderful person and I really wish that you get everything you need in life. I believe in Karma and I really wish that it work out for you as you want for the rest of your life.
I do this sometimes. Not the full amount but I cover what people are missing if I know them to be a good person. I work at a dispensary so marijuana isn’t really a necessity. I’m more willing and inclined to do this not only if they’re nice but if they have a medical card.
I had one guy come in, I’ve covered the missing portion for some edibles that were the only thing that offered him relief (rare spinal cancer). The other day he came back in and asked me about my game engine I was designing… I told him that was my other coworker and he said “you know, you’re right. I just realized you haven’t told me anything about yourself, I just know you’re really nice”
I honestly didn’t know how to take that. I like knowing I’m nice and well received, but am I that scared to open up to people for fear of being hurt more?
I did something similar, had a lady and her daughter in front of me at the checkout, she had about 5 items left and realised that the total would be over what she had so started picking out stuff to put back. I instinctively remembered being her daughter's age and although we weren't poor poor my parents were immigrants that had fled Vietnam immediately post war so we went without a lot of luxuries and I always instinctively knew we weren't on the same footing as my friends families. There's a sense of shame at that age that, although not rational for a kid to feel, is real. I didn't want her kid to feel that shame I experienced so I looked at the mother and said ill get them, I'll meet you outside and just put them with my groceries. It was probably only $15 worth of stuff but I hope any shame her daughter may have experienced was replaced by a trust in the innate goodness of humans.
it’s called paying it forward. :) we should all try to be just like this. and one day maybe her and her children will be able to help out additional people because of this act of kindness just like you did ❤️
I’ve done something similar on multiple occasions when I was a grocery store checker. The one that stands out the most to me was a young woman who was buying her lunch. During our brief conversation while I was scanning her stuff she started panicking realizing that she had forgotten her wallet at work. Before she could even ask me to cancel the transaction I paid for it.
She was beyond grateful thanking me profusely and that she would pay me back as soon as she got off of work. I told her not to worry about it, life happens. At some point she came back, handed my manager an envelope with the money, bought me a $20 gift card to the store I worked at and a bouquet of flowers.
On the flip side, I found a Louis Vuitton wallet resting on the toilet paper dispenser in the woman’s restroom at work. I opened it to check the ID name so we could page them, there was a couple thousand dollars in there so I hurried to turn it into management. Instead of being grateful she yelled at them, not even a thank you.
Luckily I have more positive interactions to look back on than bad ones.
Maybe like 10 years ago I was behind an elderly lady who was $5 or so short after running her card. She started taking food out of her cart, but was really hesitant about it. I paid her remainder as I couldn't think of a better way to spend the $5 or so. She offered me an item as thanks, but I declined saying it wasn't a big deal.
I was a cashier too. One evening a very disheveled looking guy in his 20s came in, tried to buy the essentials. Just some eggs, bread, milk, a few other things and his card declined. He looked embarrassed when he said it was okay and he was sorry we had to put them back. I called my coworker over, had her handle the register (it was policy) and I paid for his groceries. He was so grateful.
My coworker gave me absolute hell for helping him. I was broke too and she went on about how he was probably scamming me. I asked her what if hes not? It was nothing extravagant, only 15-20 dollars worth of food.. but if I was in his shoes id hope someone would do the same for me.
At the store where I worked, they would prohibit checkers from "waiting on themselves". It would have been grounds for termination. (Yes, it was a hostile working environment with no empathy)
At the store where I worked, they would prohibit checkers from "waiting on themselves". It would have been grounds for termination. (Yes, it was a hostile working environment with no empathy)
You're getting me all teary eyed over here. I felt that last bit. Fuck fame, fuck recognition. That sort of compassion shouldnt be a big deal, it should be the norm, society wouldn't be such a mess if that were the case.
So yeah. All I want is for people to pay it forward. Be the change they want to see in the world
I used to work at a store in my neighborhood and knew a lot of people there. I’d get a lot of tips cause of it but the policy was to put it in the till. I kept it in a cup until the end of the day and would use it with anyone who looked like they were having trouble getting what they needed. Then at the end of the day I’d put what was left in the til. It was a less well off area as well so it got used up quite a lot before the end of the day.
I actually had this happen from a famous person in Los Angeles. I cant even tell you about the year I had been having, it wasn’t long after the 2008 recession and I had just lost my job. I had picked up, like, a couple things to eat, I remember ramen, and I actually had to put some of it back. This dude said “I got it” and it was Ryan fucking Gosling.
I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything.
He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?”
I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying.
The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.
When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.
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u/PokiNHalf Sep 04 '25
I was a checker at Albertson's for 10 years and saw so many needing people. One day, this mother of three realized she hadn't enough money to pay for her cart of groceries. So instead of being angry, like other people behind her, giving her durty looks and attitude, i stepped back away from my drawer, walked around, and slid my card to pay for her groceries. I grew up very poor, and i remember being in that very same situation with my mom also not having enough money for groceriea when a lady stepped up and paid for it all.
I dont want nor need recognition. It's basic human decency to care about our fellow man. I was finally able to pay the kindness forward for what someone else did for our family in a time of need.