Joe,
The wife and I were in Giant about noon today. After we checked out our
item we were leaving and I saw a 5 dollar bill on the floor under the
crd.crd machine. We picked the bill up and low and behold there a medium size
bill fold on part of the bagging counter. We checked with the clerk person in
the adjoining aisle and she said It maybe belonged to the lady leaving the
store at the end next to the pharm. As we were approaching her she began to
search her purse when I asked her If this was what she was looking for. The
clerk also said she was partially blind and slow. We gave her the wallet and
left the store feeling good. But we never got a thank you. Then prople
wonder what is wrong with this world. We discussed this the rest of the way
home and we still felt good.
EARL
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
13 comments:
Usually people who take the time to write about an act of kindness are praising someone else's compassion, not outlining their own. What is wrong with the world when it takes you the whole ride home to decide you still feel good about helping a nearly blind, slow person who has lost her wallet, even though the dear lady did not show you the proper amount of gratitude? It sounds like you had to wrestle with her lack of manners for quite some time, but all of us are glad you were able to get past her breach of etiquette. If you are seven or younger, learn that you do good things for people because you're supposed to and stop whining and feeling so put upon. Everything is not about you. If you are older than seven, you're a piece of work.
The thanks should come from within, knowing you did the right thing should be thanks enough.
I will say THANK YOU.
Here's an example of when it is more respectable to remain anonymous.
Thanks or no thanks, the fact is you yourself did what was right. You have to live with your decsions, you made the right one. The world could use more people like yourself.
Anon 9:59
perfect!
I hold the door open for someone, for example, because its the right thing to do..not to be praised or stroked. I don't need reenforcement of my own core values, but if you need someone to say thank you I'll do it..Thank you .
Perhaps the lady is a reader of this blog and has seen your letter. She is now overcome with guilt at her lack of proper thanks (perhaps left speechless by gratitude?) and will never get over it. Her last dying words will be "I wish I had thanked that nice Earl"...
Seriously, thank you for being nice, but I have done similar things when the occasion presented itself and have never decided I needed to be thanked. The warm and fuzzies of doing something nice for a stranger are thanks all by themselves, aren't they?
I think you're being too hard on Earl. I get what he's saying. I don't think he was looking for a pat on the back for doing the right thing, I think he was just pointing out that there are a lot of people out there without manners.
I went out of my way once to return someone's cell phone to them--drove all over god's creation just to get a charger for the thing, to figure out what company it was subscribed to, or if it was still turned on to call a number in it that might reach its rightful owner. Anyway, after all was said and done, she got her phone back, and there was no thank you. I was happy to help her, and I certainly don't regret it one bit because I know how lost I'd be without my phone, but a thank you would have been well received for the amount of effort it took to get it to her.
Its simple manners. I was raised by my grandparents much of my life, and I think that their generation found more purpose for manners than the generations since theirs. My 10 month old daughter already knows how to say thank you (it is absolutely adorable!) because she hears us and her big brother say it all the time.
Don't get angry at the person who did the good deed. Use his story as inspiration to take a personal inventory--- Do you express appreciation to those around you as often as you should?
i think he was just looking for kindess in return. sure fire way to set yourself up for disappointment. maybe he thought it would be contageous.
I am employed at Giant Food and if we are talking about the same regular customer....she doesn't see well or talk. Tanks for returning her wallet.
5:53
Thanks for letting us know she doesn't talk. Hope Earl is satisfied.
Doing the right thing is its own reward. Trolling for thanks for doing something honorable pretty much negates the honorable act.
9:59 and 10:02... perfect.
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