One morning not too long ago, I stopped at a local bakery to buy pastries for a meeting at my office. I had neither cash nor my checkbook with me, but assumed that the store owner accepted debit/credit cards. Not seeing the Visa/Mastercard logo on the door, however, I asked her if I could pay with my credit card. She said she did not have an ATM machine and was very apologetic for the inconvenience. But then she said something that you rarely hear anymore: “You can pay me with a check and bring it by tomorrow!” Of course, the owner took me by total surprise when she said that. “Are you sure?,” I asked. “Yes, yes, no problem,” she replied. I happily placed my order, and told the store owner I would bring my check the next morning. I ended up going home on my lunch hour the day I bought the pastries, wrote out a check to the bakery and promptly brought it to the bakery on my way back to work. Yes, it was a great day that day and my faith in humanity was restored! A random act of kindness was bestowed upon me that day, and I hope I have paid that forward many times over since then.
