I’ve had a couple tough days. I’m off work, ill. Headache, achey bones, and a fatigue that’s taken me down for the count. I hate being sick! Additionally I’m missing a lot about Vancouver these days. Don’t get me wrong – I really enjoy Yellowknife – but there are experiences and places and shops and wifi and people who are only to be found in Vancouver. So in addition to bone and head aches, there’s some ache-of-the-spirit in the mix.
This evening I did what all sick people do to console themselves. I made the treck to the video store. Alas, I came out empty. No The Wire. No BSG til late July apparently. I forgot to ask about Firefly (anyone seen the series? I saw one episode – are they all as awesome?)
Plan B: buy some chocolate. One idiosyncrasy of life up here is that the majority of shops shut down at 6pm but not, thank goodness, Shoppers. I went the distance, folks, I selected a beautiful Lindt milk chocolate bar, went to the til — and my debit card was declined. And declined. And declined again. It’s payday and I work for the Gov’t so I’m guessing Central One’s servers went down, but in any case, so much for my chocolate. Life was beginning to spiral downward.
Until a lovely thing happened.
The young woman at the til, seeing my crestfallen face, told me to hang on one sec. She punched a few buttons on the til — handed me the chocolate bar, smiled, and said, it’s on me. Not on the house. It’s on me.
I stood dumbfounded. Eventually I stammered out my thanks, and happily accepted the chocolate bar she had just bought me.
It cost her $1.50. Not much in the grand scheme of things, but its impact was multiple time a buck-fifty. It was a lovely, unexpected, random act of kindness.
I don’t know if I’ll make a point of paying her back or if I’ll pay it forward or quite what I’ll do.
I thought I’d start by simply sharing.
Readers, have you experienced a Random Act of Kindness? Care to share?
ps: I got home, and reached a vancouver friend who, of all things, is also housebound. He’d rented One Week, and I was able to find it on iTunes for rent, so we’re sharing a movie, virtually. Life is lookin’ better.
