During my lunch break I headed out to Rite-Aid to buy two boxes of cereal. I saw an ad on the front of the weekly sales circular for Lucky Charms and knew I had to buy some. I haven’t eaten the stuff in ages, but as soon as I saw the ad I began to crave it. The boxes are on sale this week for $1.99 and I had a coupon for $1 off 2, so I drove down to Rite-Aid to get myself two boxes of yummy Lucky Charms cereal.
I headed right to the cereal isle, grabbed the two boxes, and began heading for the checkout line, when a little boy and girl turned the corner. They each reached for a box of cereal and asked their mother if they could have them. I was about to walk around them when I realized that I hadn’t given anything away for the day, (I’m on day 14 of the 29 day giving challenge), so I asked the woman if she wanted a coupon for the cereal she was buying. She took the coupon and thanked me. At that point I looked at her cart and realized that I might have other coupons that she could use. Sure enough, I found three other coupons that matched the items she was buying. All told I saved her $3.50 and gave the gift of coupons away on day 14 of my 29 day giving challenge.
What a nice thing to do-I’ll have to try paying it forward like that sometime.
Certainly this is not what we commonly expect when it comes to gift coupons, but at the end rewarding and that is what really matters.
Many days, if I have a coupon that I most likely won’t use or that will expire before my next grocery trip, I set the edge of the product on the edge of the coupon on the grocery shelf. It’s my own random act of kindness to whomever uses the product next.
That’s really kind and I’m sure she really appreciated. Your act of service leads to more. I hope that woman pays it forward. Just doing nice things isn’t insurance that people will do so but it feels good just to be nice.
Jerry
Amphritrite I love your suggestion of leaving coupons right on the grocery store shelves, but I have to admit that I liked seeing the joy in the customer’s face when I gave her those coupons. She must have thanked me three or four times for saving her $3.50. That joy was contagious and those happy feelings stayed with me all afternoon.