Today for the first time since July...I drove all alone to the supermarket. I decided to get a trolley to lean on...but then found that I didn't have a euro to release the chain. So I went up to a lady who was unloading her trolley... and asked her if she could change my two 50 cent pieces for a euro...I then noticed that she had an orange token in her trolley slot. She rattled off something in French...(far too fast for me to fully understand)...however the gist of it was that I could have her trolley...complete with orange token. I thanked her profusely...and waddled off.
As I was approaching the store I saw a young French lady struggling under the weight of four large shopping bags... trying to walk back to her car...so I approached her and asked in my best schoolgirl Franglaise... if she would like to borrow my trolley to carry her bags back to her car...I told her that I'd wait where I was until she returned. She was really grateful...and filled my trolley as I quickly grabbed my stick out of it...before it got buried beneath her numerous purchases. She thanked me in perfect English...and walked off. Having filled her car she returned with my trolley...her face full of smiles... thanked me yet again...and shook my hand. She seemed really touched that I should have helped her.
As I waddled off to continue my shopping spree...I thought that it was a perfect example of ...paying it forward...some one helped me...and I was able to help some one else...and I also got given a nice orange token to keep in my purse for next time....MAGIC!!
Love is seeing a need and filling it...(pst pass it forward)
I wish all the jetons were the same... we've got a multicoloured selection permanently in the car!
And just to balance the perception that trolleys often disappear in Africa (sorry Annette I know you were probably joking!!), I've always found Africans to be very honest and generous. About twenty years ago when "Pins" were popular in France (kind of small badges worn on clothing which became very collectable) I was coming out from a meeting in Pointe Noire (Congo) and, as I was retrieving my passport, complimented the security guy at the exit on his "Pin" which depicted the new Congolese flag. Anyway I got back to the car a couple of hundred metres away and as I was was about to pull out there was a knock on the side window. The guy (who probably earned a couple of hundred $ a month) had run after me to insist that I take the "Pin" - and he absolutely refused to take any money for it.
Quite a contrast to the employee at Aberdeen airport (in my own country) who stole my expensive watch that I had left accidentally unattended for five minutes.
After posting my story..it occurred to me... that many of you would not understand why it was my first outing on my own since July.Well I had a freak accident involving my hose pipe...whilst watering my garden in July...and the out come was that I was unable to use my left arm for several weeks. I then had a full knee replacement in September...which inflamed my sciatic nerve...so recovery has been painfully slow...and I mean painfully!!!
So I have developed a rather strange waddle...to ease my discomfort. But hey...every day I'm getting better and better. I'll soon be cycling along the lanes again.
Lovely Heather. I regularly help people at the supermarket and can often been seen trying to fit pensioner's shopping trolleys or bags in my 206! It amazes me the number of people that can just drive by a person wearing nothing more than a cardigan in -1°c temperatures dragging her overful trolley behind her!
Mind you, there are times I've offered to help and been told where to go...but the good times more than make up for those :)
One of the things I missed when leaving France was the keyring that held the "jeton"......do companies still give these away? Could be a great marking tool for SFN? lol Great example of paying it forward.....for an awful minute there I thought you were going to say the second lady ran off with the trolley......sorry, been in Africa too long!!!!!
Lovely story Heather and it put a smile on my face. If you find you have lost your "Jeton" a 50cent piece will also work, I only found this out due to the fact that I had lost my jeton and did not have a euro so tried a 50 cent piece and it worked.
Heather - your post put a smile on my face. The little token is called a 'Jeton' - I know because we are always forgetting ours and I never have my purse when I go out with the other half. Even though we leave them the jeton in the car, somehow they always disappear and the lady at the welcome desk in our local Super U now recognises me I'm sure! My favourite thing to pass on is a smile, I love it when people you don't know smile back in a happy way.