A Cheesy Act of Kindness

Day 139

I stopped by the grocery store on my way home from work today to pick up a few things. Right near the front was a sample bowl of cheese puffs that they were being marketed as some sort of healthy alternative to cheese doodles. I grabbed some on the way by using the plastic utensil provided, while imagining how many other people might have touched the contents of the bowl. I was undeterred however by the image in my head, as I really love cheese doodles. It is one of my favorite things about attending children's birthday parties; you can almost always count on them being there.

I turned to look at the package to determine if, by some miracle, they actually were a healthy snack. And when I did my pocketbook swung and hit the bowl, knocking it off the table, creating a crunchy carpet of cheese puffs on the floor.

It was a double dose of embarrassment. The first was that I created a mess and second that it was now very public that I was snacking on cheese puffs. I started to walk away but a faint voice in my head told me that was the wrong thing to do, and certainly not kind. So I about faced and walked over to the customer service desk, making sure first that there was no cheese puff residue on my face, and told the folks behind the counter what I had done. They were quite nice, said no problem, we'll clean it up.

Not really an act of kindness, as of course it is what I should have done. But I'm becoming increasingly aware that acting kind and doing the right thing are sometimes the same thing, and when they are not, they are close relatives.