40% Discount on Kindness

Day 307

I stopped by a craft store this evening after work and as I was leaving, I wondered what I would do if an opportunity for an act of kindness didn't present itself before I arrived home. And just as I was thinking this, I noticed a young woman trying to scrape snow and ice off the windshield of her car with her hands. Apparently while she was at work all day, the snow had slid off her roof and cemented itself to the windshield.

Quick as you could say “kind” I was in my car and back with a couple of ice scrapers. As I helped her get the car cleaned off, she stepped away for a second and quietly said something to her friend who was gathering shopping carts from the lot. She came back to scraping and I wondered what she had said to the young man. She didn't seem as happy with my help as I thought she would be, although I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting.

As we finished I told her to keep the ice scraper (the cheap plastic one, I held onto the good one with the metal blade; I'm not THAT kind). And as I was starting to walk away her friend came out from inside the store and handed me a crumpled 40% percent off coupon and said “This was all we could find to give you.” It became apparent that the young woman had sent him on a mission. I smiled and told that was very nice and he replied “There should be more people like you around.”

Perhaps the young woman didn't seem as happy as I expected because she was concerned about how to repay me. Or maybe she was just shy. But it seems my gesture was appreciated. And I am hopeful if she sees a stranger in need of some kindness, the gesture will be passed along.