At the Aldi checkout I was having trouble paying for my $100 grocery shop. It wasn’t that I couldn’t afford to pay, I’d just forgotten to transfer money into our everyday transaction account. I was trying to move the money over quickly at the checkout but the banking app was down. I had my two little kids with me, a toddler and a baby, one of whom had started screaming.
With a growing queue of other customers behind me, the checkout guy set aside my receipt for the scanned groceries and saved it, then went on to serving other people. Frantically, I called my husband and asked him to come down to the supermarket with his bank card and pay, as it didn’t seem that I was going to be able to. While I was on the phone to him, a lady in the line paid for her groceries – then told the checkout guy, “I’ll pay for hers, too.”
I tried to protest, but she wouldn’t hear of it. All she said was: “Just pay it back in the community somehow.”
I felt so honoured that someone would do that for me – it was so kind. That woman could see I was flustered and embarrassed at the busy checkout and stepped in to save the day.
We live in quite a small town but because it all happened so fast, I’m not exactly sure who it was who paid for the groceries, so I haven’t been able to thank her.
But I did honour that kind woman’s request. At the time, I had a whole bunch of baby stuff for sale on Facebook Marketplace. But after that day at the supermarket, I took it down and posted in a local “buy swap sell” group so I could pass it all on for free to someone in need. A woman with a six-week-old foster baby took me up on the offer, so I’m glad I was able to pass on the favour.
What is the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?
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