On Grocery Shopping

God bless the man at Aldi, whoever he is.

It was pouring rain and he kindly offered to load my groceries in my car for me so I wouldn't get wet. He even ran through the rain to bring me back my quarter after I told him to just keep it.

He made me ashamed. My only thought until he showed up was to try to stay as dry as possible while making it home with all my groceries intact. I was trying to figure out if it was safe to leave my grocery cart alone in front of the store for a minute while I pulled the car up to load. I wondered if someone might just run up and grab my groceries and run off with them back to their apartment or something. And then this guy offers to load them for me. He didn't have to . He could have stayed dry(er). He could have been quicker in and out of the store. But he showed the love of Jesus. Couldn't I have been a little less worried about a hungry person stealing my groceries. I mean, if they're that hungry, I guess I can spare some food for them.

~~~~~

Fast forward a couple of hours to Wal-Mart. Standing in line at Customer Service to get a tax exempt card, I had to wait while a guy ran to the back of the store to make a copy. So I observed the customer service lady as she waited on people.

Customer 1: Middle-aged, Caucasian, female
The Wal-Mart employee politely asked if she had a receipt for the item she was returning. Then she proceeded to tell about how dreadful her allergies are, and generally complain in a good-natured way, while quickly and cheerfully processing the return for the customer.

Customer 2: party of 3, young, Hispanic, 2 females (one obviously pregnant), 1 male
The Wal-Mart employee barked, "Receipt! Yes or no?" (This request reminded me of the concentration camp guard in The Hiding Place. "NAME!" "Cornelia Ten Boom." "AGE!" "43." "CLASSIFICATION!" "Political.") The lady indicated she had no receipt for the tiny baby booties she was returning and asked if she could get the money back on a gift card. "It will be on a gift card. You have no choice," was the answer. In those words. In a sharp, clipped manner.

Needless to say, I was rather appalled. I guess I shouldn't be. It's not like we haven't experienced things like this. People just naturally seem to assume that if you speak another language or have a different skin color, there is something wrong with you. You are inferior. It just really bothers me to see it so blatantly manifested.