Friday, January 31, 2014

A trip to the grocery store…...

I try to be as objective as possible.  I ask for discernment to help me walk through life.  I desperately wanted to write about something that happened to my family and I, BUT I had to calm down.  It has been a long time since I had been that angry.  Hopefully my heart will shine through what I have learned from this incident.  I don't believe that life just haphazardly happens.  I know there is true meaning in everything we do, see, experience, and we can learn life lessons from it.

So let me begin to describe the incident that changed my view point and makes me ponder… My family was shopping at Aldi's for our monthly grocery purchase.  Here are some of the truths Aldi's stand by.  "Loyalty shouldn't require a card".  "Impressively high quality at impossibly low prices." In other words, they are low prices with same quality of food as larger grocery stores.  It is heaven sent for a single mom on a tight budget.  We are standing in line to check out.  My two children are chatting up a storm about their day when I notice a single young lady in front of us is getting very fidgety.  So I look at the cashier.  He is a young man probably 21ish.  He has just finished scanning this young family's grocery.  A father, a mother, and two beautiful children under four years of age.  The father is digging in his pockets and counting out pennies, dimes, nickels.   The mother is scrounging in her purse for 'extra' money.  They are whispering to each other.  I am watching this all unfold in front of us as the cashier is mocking them to the single young lady.  He is rolling his eyes, lipping that they 'don't have enough money to purchase everything'.  The mother picks up a package of chicken and asks for it to be taken off the bill.  Still it is not enough. the mocking continues and my blood begins to boil.  He then glances back to my family, who now has noticed I am not paying attention to them but totally getting pissed.  He starts to mock them to me.  Aloud and forcefully like a mother, I promptly tell him to shut up and stop his rude behavior.  Well that went over like a ton of bricks.  He smirks and looks back to the young lady.  This continues for a few more seconds.  The mother is now in tears and the father is trying to figure out what else to put back.  I step forward and the cashier smirks at me.  I asked, "How much are they short?"  The cashier looked at me blankly.  So I asked just a little bit louder.  "How much are they short?"  He turns so I can see the amount and says they only have this amount.  OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! They were ONLY $6 short!  I reached in my purse and handed the cashier a ten dollar bill.  He started to make a smart remark.  My son (18, 6 foot 4 inches) stepped forward and told him to shut his mouth.  The cashier finished the purchase and went to hand me the change.  I nodded for him to hand it to this young humiliated couple.  The couple profusely thanked me.  With tears in their eyes, they took their groceries and two precious babies to an old beat up car and drove away changed.  I waited for their car to disappear and I asked to see the manager.  

There are so many things about this that pisses me off.  How dare someone mock someone else because of their financial state or because of the color of their skin (which was part of the issue also).  Where is compassion, helping one another, consideration, love, or just being sensitive of what someone is going through.  I explained the situation to the manager and stated firmly this should Never have happened.  This cashier has never had to scrape pennies, dimes, nickels to feed his family.  I have!  I have had to put food back, to stretch staples for what seemed like weeks so my family wouldn't  be hungry.  This family probably are hard workers, they aren't shopping at the expensive stores like Harris Teeter or Food Lion. They are pinching everything and HAD to put meat back to make ends meet.  I regret one thing.  I should have purchased the chicken but I was so angry I didn't think.  The cashier never apologized.  What are we teaching our society today?  When someone is down, push them further down?  

What have I learned….even the smallest gestures can impact someone for a lifetime.  Hopefully that family will remember the kindest shone not the mockery that was displayed.  I learned that my children, who were just as angry, stepped up to the plate.  They had compassion and were praying.  Probably praying that their mother wouldn't hit someone.  I have also learned to be more observant around me.  Who can I touch with love and kindness today?  How can I change someone's situation with words, actions, or deeds?  I have learned to listen to the Holy Spirit to direct me.  Every moment is important and every person is His child.  Nothing is a waste of time, it adds to the person you are…..What kind of person are you trying to be today?!







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