Giving Tuesday: When YOU are the Charity!

In the US, everybody knows about the Thanksgiving holiday.  The following day, “Black Friday,” is noted as the biggest buying day of the year. Retailers offer all kinds of deals for early holiday shoppers.  In-store sales usually continue through the weekend, and online retailers have jumped into the “gimmick” with Cyber Monday.

That’s a lot of observances, centered around Thanksgiving and Christmas spending.  However, there’s another one which has increased in popularity in recent years: Giving Tuesday! Its premise is charitable giving as opposed to the commercialization of the holiday season.

People who know me on a personal level know that I give A LOT!!! My time, I donate to charity, I help loved ones in need, I stop and give rides to people experiencing car trouble, etc.

Well, Giving Tuesday caught me off guard.  I don’t know where I was or what I’ve been doing the past few years, but I’d never heard of it until this year. I started trying to think of a way to give back in a way that would make an impression.  Little did I know that on Giving Tuesday, I’d be the one on the receiving end.

As we left Jireh’s gymnastics class, she asked if we could to go McDonald’s.

Sidebar:If you don’t feed it to your kid, that’s you.  I don’t want to hear about how I shouldn’t and all that crap.  It’s not like she gets it every day or even every week, and after exercising for two hours, what child wants to wait to get home for a meal?

We go to the drive-thru, I order my food, and reach into my purse to grab my wallet.  I can’t find it. I look to see if maybe it’s fallen on the floor.  It hasn’t.  I completely freak out!  I get to the window to pay and apologize to the cashier, telling him I can’t find my wallet, but I can if he can give me just a minute. He looks at the register and says, “No problem.  I got ya.”

“Excuse me?”  I asked.

“I’m paying for it for you.”

“No. No, I have it.  I promise I do.”

“Ma’am, it’s ok. I paid for it.  Have a good night.”

At this point, I was speechless and utterly embarrassed.  I thanked him and inched up in the line. Baffled at what I could have possibly done with my wallet, I reached under my seat to see if maybe it had fallen while.  Sure enough, there was my wallet.

When I made it to the second window, I asked the attendant if she could refund my order because I’d found my wallet and could pay for my food.  Very politely, she waved me off, “Just take it.”

I did as I was told.

At a time when commercialism is at an all-time high, when it seems that every man is out for himself, that rules are rules, and everything has a cost, this staff saw an awkward moment in my life as a chance to be charitable.  I greatly appreciate it!

To the staff at McDonald’s at Interstate Lane in Cottondale, thank you! I know the young man didn’t really pay for my order with his own money, but he also didn’t have to offer to have it covered.

P.S.  Their ice cream machine was working… And yes, my child and I care NOT what the temperature is. We love ice cream!