Give a Penny Take a Penny

I was standing in line at the grocery store, full basket of groceries in hand, when all of a sudden I remembered that I had taken my Discover card out of my wallet the night before. Now I am one of those people that love a credit economy. The term Once in a Blue Moon can't even describe how rare it is for me to actually have hard currency on my person. Luckily though, on this particular day, I had a twenty spot and a few loose coins in my pocket.

I thought, no bigge, I was just buying some of the essentials, pop, frozen pizza, chips, cookies, ect . . . all the staples of a bachelor’s kitchen cabinet. $20 should cover me - no biggie. And, at the worst, maybe I have to put a few items back like the veggies and fruits that I had picked up.

It was my turn to unload the contents of my basket onto the conveyor belt that was to deliver my goods to the red flashing laser - the scanner - that was going to decide what I could keep or had to abandon. As I watched the display screen after each swipe of another delicious toll-house morsel, or the frozen delight of Eddy's Ice Cream, the number rose towards the amount in my pocket. $15, $17.65, $19.35. . . My heart dropped. I was about to become one of those people who couldn't pay up. As I watched the Bananas resting on the scales, the check out lady gave me the bad news, $21.95.

My hand shot to my pockets, scrambling to pull out every coin that had been clanging in my pocket all morning long. I quickly counted the coins to find out, if by some miraculous miracle, maybe I had $1.95. 2 quarters, 3 dimes, 4 nickels and a lot of lint. I asked the cashier if I could sell her my lint - she looked at me oddly - I was just trying to buy time to make to make a decision between the bananas or the ice-cream.

If my mother is reading this – I made the grown-up decision – and started to reach for the ice-cream as I apologized for my shortness in cash and for making the cashier have to walk all the way to the frozen section to reshelf that chocolaty delicacy.

In the middle of my apology, a dollar appeared out of thin air. The man behind me produced a dollar and set it on the counter. I looked at him with amazement. I mean, I didn’t need the junk food. It wasn’t like the basket was full of the actual essentials of a balanced diet. I told the man that I didn’t need the ice-cream. He insisted. I told him I forgot me credit card – and thanked him. He simply said “That happens, you’re welcome.”

That happens, you are welcome. Stuff happens, you are welcome. Stuff happens, I don’t mind helping another person.

Thank you.