Kindness Ripples Spread Through Arby's

--by carol.s.dorman, posted Oct 7, 2010

As I stood in a busy lunch line at Arby's I was becoming increasingly worried I would be late getting back to the office. A grandmother and her grandson were keeping the only available cashier busy. The woman had difficulty with all the choices and, after finally placing the order, became very flustered trying to find her cash or her credit card.

While this was going on, the cashier had the most gentle and benevolent expression on his face, never once making the woman feel under pressure. His mood transformed my own. I caught his eye and quietly indicated I would pay for the order. He understood and took care of it without embarrassing the woman.

Then when I eventually placed my order he paid for my lunch! As I stood aside waiting for my order two other customers spoke to me about what had happened and said they would also "pay it forward" as a result of witnessing the scene.

The experience was transformative for me! I will never forget that young cashier who set such an inspiring example that his spirit of kindness and generosity created a cascading group of random acts of kindness.

Given a little inspiration, people are wonderfully generous!

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Posted by carol.s.dorman
Oct 7, 2010
Comments (10)

Readers Comments

moral12 wrote: The cashier obviously knew about "doing unto others". Great story; thanks for sharing it.

luv2bkind wrote: Beautiful. Simply beautiful

Susan wrote: Yay! Carol what a great story and what funnnn! I love the ripple you have described! :) thank you.

serveothers wrote: I am inspired to to spread similar kindness.

iferlamb wrote: This is lovely. We are all in need of lessons from time to time. Those of us who are open to receive them are the blessed ones.
smiles...

carol.s.dorman wrote: Yes -- the experience is still very much with me and helps me keep perspective.

JuneBug wrote: Whatta great day !!! Smiles everywhere ! :D

MakeSomeoneSmile wrote: That is great! I love seeing that happen! This is a great example of one small act snowballing into many. The manager's kindness as well as the kindness the other customer's may just spread too! :)

dailybread wrote: I love this. Taking that quick moment
to make things easier for someone else... and what fun to see it grow! Thanks for the inspiration :-)

givelove wrote: What a beautiful thing! Not only did you make the grandmother and grandson's day, but you started a chain reaction. I also love that you really observed and connected with the cashier- many people would have perhaps just been irritated at the delay, but instead you fed off his positive energy and created an amazing ripple effect. Thank you!

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