Hi Liz

After Âlurking at the Kitchen Table for a year or two - I joined so I could post and say thank you for telling this heartwarming story.

SighÂ.. I need to slow down and think about what is really important.

Gary in California

So many kids don't understand the value of money and what it takes to get it. I want to give the benefit of the doubt to the checker, that something else could be involved, but really, this one was truly heartwarming. I've been through tough times and I've had good times. Growing up I didn't quite understand why I never got an "allowance" like the other kids. I worked to get my money for the most part BUT, we were able to occasionally ask if we could go to a movie or something and the folks would give us the money to do it. Now, it should also be clear that there were chores required. Period. But there's nothing wrong with that. I learned to save money early. I saved to get a car to go to school (after high school - I WALKED to school k-12). Got a decent starter job out of school and continued to save, then bought my first new vehicle. I couldn't quite pay cash, I had to borrow $750 from the bank to get it! So I also learned about payments, on time and the satisfaction of paying it off. I wish more kids would learn the satisfaction like this. But enough about that.

This time of year there are a number of people who truly need help. There's also a lot of scumbags who take advantage of good, generous people. Good luck to you all to sort them out. It gives me a great feeling to help someone who needs it, and as good a feeling to tell a scammer to stuff it.

These are the stories that are so nice to start out the day. Gary put it well, "slow down and think about what is really important". The old stop and smell the roses. Enjoy the sunrise. Enjoy a sunset. So few, TRULY understand or appreciate the simple things in life.

This time of year might be a good time to reflect a bit. Many of us have lost friends and loved ones this year. So it's a good time to reflect that there's still good things. Still good times and memories. Could I offer a hug and a Merry Christmas to everyone?

Our KMart was packed today, all registers opened and when I went to put $$ in the red kettle, it was full and they were bringing in another one. Good prices and good selection. Much better that WM,
People here seem to be in good spirits, even the cashiers.

wow.. a very sweet story. thanks for the cry! lol

What a wonderful story, liz. The world is full of good people but, it seems a few bad apples get all the press. Hopefully, it will sink in to the cashier at some point.

Welcome Gary in California.

Well said, cynic, as usual. Our childhoods sound very similar. I grew up on a dairy farm and had chores to do everyday for as long as I can remember.

Ron

Thanks for sharing this story. This very thing happened to me one time in a grocery store, but after I had summoned up all my courage to say "I can pay for that, just put it with mine", the lady I was offering to help said, "No thank you". I was a little embarrassed, but then I realized she was more embarrassed then me.

I might add, I've been in the same situation years ago when I had to stretch the paycheck. You can't imagine how your heart skips a beat when the cashier says the total out loud for all to hear and you just stand there like a deer in headlights.

Thanks for sharing the cool story! There are still decent people in the world--a whole bunch of them post at this forum!

My father-in-law is 93 years old, and lives alone (his health is wonderful). Each day, he goes out to eat in a local restaurant. The other day, he noticed a middle-aged woman at the next table with two elderly people (who he thought might be her parents). They left before he did. When he tried to pay his bill, the waitress said the woman at the next table had paid for his meal! He was so touched by the kind gesture, and was sorry he didn't get to thank her.

It's been fun for me to pay for the car behind me in the drive-thru. I just tell the cashier I'm paying for the next car and to tell them "happy holidays" and off I go. I don't wait around to see their reaction, I get more out of it than they ever could. My daughter has been doing this lately too. Pass it on.

Liz, what you witnessed is very touching, and how nice that it was a younger woman who made the difference.

I tried to do that for a couple several years ago. Apparently, I embarrassed them because I got an bit of an earful.

Couple of months ago, I did get an police officer to let me buy his coffee after basically begging him and promising that I did not have an alteria motive, lol.

In situations like this, I don't know who gets Blessed the most ... the receiver or the giver.

Thank you so much for starting out my day with such a wonderful experience.

Thanks for sharing that experience. If we ever lose our ability to be generous, we are in trouble. It's been a "me first" society for a long time, mostly in terms of money. Greed...one of the 7 deadly sins.
You've reminded me to pay forward, and I'll try to do that at my next outing.

I agree that empathy seems sorely missing in some peoples' charcters.

However, you don't have to have personally experienced want to have empathy. You don't have to have walked to school 10 miles in the snow, etc. You DO have to have been taught to consider the feelings of others, to genuinely care about someone other than yourself, and to help as best you can -- whether with a word, a smile, a thousand bucks! (Consider it an investment in YOUR character.)

Why is it I seem to cry at the drop of a hat this time of year? Liz, your post made me sob! So do Christmas carols and seeing Santa in the mall.

Cynic, I was raised the very same way. I think a lot of us from that era were. And you are so right that we reaped the benefit from it. Here's ((((Cynic))) back at 'ya.

Welcome Gary--hope you'll grab a seat and join us more often.

Liz, what a wonderful story. Sadly, so many of the cashiers don't seem to get it these days. Most of them are young. The young girl that paid is truely a wonderful woman. Like the family she helped she will always remember this.. There is not a warmer feeling then when you help someone in need. There isn't any of us out in the big world that just may need help one day.

Susie

That is such a heartwarming story Liz.

I would also suggest that maybe the cashier deserves a bit of empathy too. We don't know her back story. Maybe she was covering for a person who chronically calls off "sick" on Saturday night.... maybe this cashier had special plans for the evening... who knows? Granted, she "shouldn't" show the BA toward her customers, but perhaps a kind word acknowledging her sacrifice might go a long way, too. Just a thought....

That's a really nice story!

I wouldn't go too hard on the cashier. I know when I was one, I saw a lot of people try to abuse the system. I worked back when the economy was good and jobs were plentiful. We'd have people come through the line who expected someone else to pick up the tab. Some cashiers would go ahead and let the person just take the items, but I didn't feel they were mine to give.

Liz, thanks for the great story! Very heart-warming!

That is wonderful. Bless that girls heart...remember we might all entertain " angels,un aware"...Wouldn't it be fun to be rich so you could buy people things they need???

Posted by janie_ga: "Couple of months ago, I did get an police officer to let me buy his coffee after basically begging him and promising that I did not have an alteria motive, lol."

LOL. I chuckled at the pun. In my area we have a chain of coffee shops called Alterra.

They do their own on site roasting and sell neato gifts and t-shirts.

Thank you Liz for telling us your heartwarming story. I shed a few tears. Yes, there are still good "angels" out there and I have been on the receiving end many times and try to pass it on as often as I can.

LOL I know about those grocery bags growing. I walk to the store and think I have only purchased a few items but on the walk home I seem to have one to many heavy bags to carry.

Anne

What a lovely story. Thank you for sharing it.

I'm glad ya'll liked my little shopping outing...the young girl who paid was truly an angel...she had very few bags and didn't look like she had the money or the means to pay for her own let alone pay someone else's bill...I was grumping to myself that I was third in line and only one aisle open, the self check lines were closed so I'm entertaining myself when the girl in front of me just starts sobbing and mumbling about what a wonderful thing she'd just seen...she pulls her cart forward to pay and realizes she's not put her groceries on the belt...that's when I saw how the cashier had her Mad on...I waited till late in the day to shop because my kids had told me it was a bear in the shopping world yesterday...so here I'm third in line with two peeps ahead of me with pretty full carts too...I let two peeps go ahead of me with only one thing in their hand...they didn't even have to ask...it was the right thing to do...

Belive me I was gentle with the cashier...sobbing and wiping my eyes with nothing but my coat sleeve and ya'll are right...the lady bagger and I were chatting after she walked up to help me bag...I told her how the first 10 years of my career I was working Christmas and how depressed it made me feel to be away from my family at Christmas...I never thought I would see the day when I would be off around the holidays...finally after 32 years I'm enjoying the luxury of seniority but so many businesses now don't recognize seniority...Yeah you're right...she was mad to have to be there but she's got lots to learn that you have to leave that "MAD" at the door...I firmly believe a higher power was working in that store last night and showed her a lesson most will only read about...if their lucky...I felt blessed to have witnessed it and it reminded me to slow down a bit in my own hurried life...I think we as parents who worked and were taught good values are trying to make it too easy on our kids...I think we always want for our kids to have better lives then we did but sometimes we're making it toooo easy...I know now my parents kept me believing we were poor just so I would learn the great value of working...I started working my first job at 14 for a whopping 80 cents an hour in 1969...I learned things in that piano refinishing store that I still use today...

I feel blessed to have been raised by parents who taught me the value of an honest days hard work for my dollars and to be humble enough to "Pay it Forward" before it was the trend to do so...I didn't realize it till my adult years how poor my family really was because my parents were rich with the right kind of values...

It really has been an enjoyable Christmas shopping season for me...even the normally crabby door greeters at Walmart have been exceptionally nice and friendly! I know I shock them when I walk in and greet them with a Good Morning and greet them by name...It takes a very special person to work in the customer service industry...My Dad didn't know a stranger and I'm thankful he taught me that lesson cause it's carried me for 32 years in my job...

As we were driving to my brother's house this morning for an early family Christmas, I related Liz's story to my stepdad. He in turn told me what happened to him the other day.

He said he was getting gas at a station and he noticed a couple pumping gas, as he walked past them to go pay for his on; a lady in the car called him over. She asked if he could lend her some money to pay for the gas, they were going to her husband's brother's funeral and didn't have enough to get there. My stepdad was suspicious. He said he didnt' have enough money (he actually did).

Now: what do you think? He says the couple shouldn't have pumped the gas into the car if they knew they didn't have the money for it; and he's thinking that perhaps this is something this couple does routinely. I understand his suspicion and agree that this COULD have been a scam. I suppose I would have given them the money, but how unfortunate for others if this couple takes advantage of people this way.

This brings back something I saw more than seventy years ago when I was a child. We were very poor, just surviving by farming. Would go into town to buy a few staples. I must have been about 5 or 6 and was standing there while daddy was ordering the staples we needed and the grocer was putting them in a cardboard box. If you didn't have money at the time, the grocer would keep a bill of your items and you could pay when the crops came in. Lady behind us had small children, I will never forget my daddy told the grocer to add whatever she needed to his bill. Did not realize how that would be such an impact on my life. I still think about him doing that, and thinking we barely had money to get by. We never had much money, on the day my dad died, one of he minister came up and told us when he was in school studying for the ministry, that my dad would give him money when he came home. My dad was one of 19 children, he was the last, his mother died the day he was born. Even being very poor, did not stop him from giving back what he could.

Thanks for the wonderful story. I think we should all keep out eyes open for opportunities to help others.
I have met nothing but happy people while shopping this year. One day I was at WalMart and the two ladies collecting for the Salvation Army were doing cheers when I went in and singing when I went out. You had to have a big smile on your face with all their spirit they were passing out.

schoolhouse -- I think your stepdad picked up on a scam. Too bad, but the whole 'going to a funeral' story put that one over the top!

I'd be a leetle bit concerned about the family with the *nice children* who couldn't pay for their groceries. I probably wouldn't be hugging with them unless I had my cash in my bra! LOL However, nobody gave them money; just a few of their groceries were paid for by a stranger. I'd LOVE to think this was an all-around good thing.

Guess I've seen too much of life -- including a friend who adopted a child of four and had to re-train him NOT to steal. In a grocery store he could open a package, remove the contents and close it up again so that you'd never guess it had been opened. His Mama had taught him that trick, along with how to look angelic. He was a very confused child who had to learn all over again what was praise-worthy.

Thanks for sharing that story. It's a nice reminder to keep things in perspective year round.

And welcome, Gary. :-)

Oh Liz what a great story!
It warms my heart!!

Unfortuately, too many kids do not know what it means to go without. They are given too much, their parents give and give and give and do not let them experience true life in what it means to live on certain budget and also cash too.

They don't know what it means to be that close or are eviction or to watch their kids go hungry, no warm clothes, holidays they don't have anything at all. To know what it means to be starving, to struggle with it all. NO money to put gas in their car, can't pay insurances, their kids are sick or themselves and they need medication. Dental work that is needed for their kids or themselves.

That was such a blessed story and more need to do that.

I remember seeing this huge native family and I remember as the one young gal was really checking things out carefully. We had gone through horrible wind storms and snow and everyone had rushed inbetween them to get groceries on hand. And I got up to the cashier and saw them a ways down and then all of a sudden they all surged out leaving all the groceries. All of them. I couldn't believe and what were they going to do?

Its terrible for so many when that happens and they come up short.

Now: what do you think?

Hustlers.

He says the couple shouldn't have pumped the gas into the car if they knew they didn't have the money for it.

He is right.

and he's thinking that perhaps this is something this couple does routinely.

Most likely.

I ditto dilly_dally's opinion. I've had people try this. When I ran the gas stations, people came up with all kinds of stories, that they'd come right back with the money, etc. Until you ask for their driver license and collateral... It could well have been a drive off in the making.

The needing money for gasoline is a common scam. My dh gets hit up for it at least a couple of times a year. We've seen it just about every state we've been to.

Such wonderful stories (except for the gas one)! Thanks for sharing!

The first New Years after my Mom passed away we were having dinner at a local restaurant. A woman who would have been about the same age as my Mom came in and sat down, by herself and ordered dinner. I felt sad for her thinking here she is alone on New Years and here I was missing my Mom like crazy and was wishing she could have there with been with us. I thought since I couldn't buy my Mom a Christmas present that year that we would buy this lady's dinner, which we did. We paid the bill while she was still eating, and left quickly so she couldn't see who paid.

Flash ahead 6 months. We are at a community event having dinner with friends and an elderly woman comes running out of nowhere and says to my dh, "There you are, I've been looking all over town for you. You thought you could get away with what you did, didn't you!!!!!" We were like "huh?" Then she asked why we bought her dinner on New Years Eve. By then people were looking and listening. (She waas pretty loud) I asked her how she knew it was us and she said that she made the waitress describe us. lol. DH rides a scooter and has snow white hair, so she had been looking for this man for months and finally saw him at this community event. We had completely forgotten about the dinner thing.

Well, she thanked and thanked us (it was embarrassing, really) but she was so surprised that someone would do that. She asked us if we thought she was poor. lol She said she wasn't through with us yet!

Flash ahead another 6 months. A couple of days before Christmas and we're having a dandy blizzard. The door bell rings and that WOMAN is at the door her hair all white from the snow. She brought us some of her homemade jam and cookies.

I asked her how she found out where we lived and she just laughed and said that nothing gets by her!

We still laugh about that. We just wanted to do a little something anonymously and we get a stalker! lol

I've met her daughter who said that she told everyone about the dinner and that's how she found out where we lived. Apparently she has quite the network! lol!

BJ

Liz nice story! Thanks for sharing

Liz, I'm glad that you told the story..I am thankful that there are still plenty of good folks in the world!
Merry Christmas, and blessings in the new year!!
And Welcome Gary in California!

That is so heart-warming, Liz, thanks for sharing. I think we don't realize how we can bless others in so many ways. Sometimes even just a warm smile to someone can make their day. It sure makes you stop and realize that we need to look beyond ourselves more often and reach out to others.

BJ, what a great, if slightly unsettling, story! I don't know how I'd feel about her tracking me down at my house, but apparently she is simply wanting to show her gratitude!