pif #9

the girls and i were out and about at a few stores today, and found an opportunity while we were in the checkout at meijers.

i remember awhile back, another mom and her young sons were in the self-checkout behind me, and the mom asked if the boys could help bag my groceries - she said they're experienced and love to help.

who am i to turn that down (despite my ocd-nature with how everything is done, including how my groceries are bagged....when it's my own kids, they get a lesson...when it's someone else's, they get a THANKS!)

SO - i'm in the self-checkout with the girls...very experienced baggers...and i say "hey!  here's a pay-it-forward' opportunity!  ask the gentleman in front of us if he would like help bagging his groceries!"

(i like this idea for several reasons - one - doesn't cost money.  two - the kids remembering that they are a part of this project!)

the girls step forward a bit and politely ask him if he would like assistance (a man, by himself, i'd say roughly 30 years old...)  "no thanks, i'm all set..." 

doh.  failure.

the girls were kinda taken aback.  i remind them that some folks are very particular (aka - their mother) and it's okay...we'll just keep asking til we get a taker!  (then, of course, all i could think was that guy thought i was impatient and just wanted to make him go faster so that i could get out of their faster...which SO was not the case...perhaps if we'd had a quick 'pay-it-forward' explanation, he would have taken us up on it...but that kinda ruins the spontaneity for me, i think...)

so...we turn behind us...a 20-something woman, by herself.  the girls politely ask if she would like assistance.  a loud "sure!" and they got to work.

i headed out to our car to unload our cart of groceries, while the girls bagged for this kind lady.  they were quite efficient, and even loaded the bagged groceries back into the cart before joining me outside - regaling stories of how the woman commented about how great they were.

pif mission #9: accomplished.