Stories of Kindness from Around the World

"I'm at Lens Crafters waiting to pick up my new pair of glasses. In walks a Mom & her little girl. Now Mom is probably in her late twenties & the little girl is maybe five.

Both of their wardrobes are badly dated to say the least . It was obvious that the family’s financial windfall had not yet arrived. I overheard a comment the Mom made to the Sales Lady that she was in between job #1 and job #2 of the day, so she didn't have a lot of time.

The little girl and the Mom proceeded around the store looking at these little tiny frames for this darling's face. The Sales Lady was helping them try on frames; pulling aside her favorites.

You know how some little kids actually look ten times cuter in glasses...that was this little girl. She finds these cute little frames with a butterfly on them and her face just glows… A smile ear to ear while she looks back at herself in the mirror.

The Sales Lady rings them up, Mom pulls out a coupon, the Sales Lady stares blankly at the coupon. She then explains for some reason this coupon can not be used, pointing out the miniscule print at the bottom.

Then the Mom chats back and forth for a bit with the Sales Lady and then finally leans down to her daughter and explains to her that there will be no glasses today, maybe next month she says.

The little girl’s eyes start to tear up, Mom leans in a little closer and tells her it will be OK , that she was just confused & needs a little more time to save up for them. The little girl responds with, "But Mommy,  I can't see and I want to be able to see when I start school next week. I want to do good, Mommy! What if I'm in the back?"

Mom is bending down explaining the importance of having strength when we don't get what we need sometimes, etc.

At this point , me & a few other strangers standing near the front watching this unfold, tears running down our cheeks, quietly call the Sales Lady over & insist that she either honor the coupon or let us buy them. We looked across at the $125 bill and everyone just started throwing cash.

The Sales Lady was so embarrassed, realizing immediately she had let some small print on a coupon beat out her natural human compassion. She went over and bent down next to the little girl, holding the frames, not without tears herself, and said, "Do you like these frames sweetie?" The little girl fought through her tears and shook her head Yes. The sales lady apologized to Mom informing her that she just realized that she actually she had misread the coupon & that there would be no problem honoring it.

She rang them up again, and said, "That will be fifty dollars ma'am," just as the coupon had stated. Mom proudly took out the fifty dollars she had saved and paid for the glasses. "

Story J.Davis 5/07