An act of kindness that I was able to be a part of took place last year at work. I was working as the closing cashier at Sendik’s and was on the fourth and a half hour of my five hour shift. The store was dead and I had no one to talk to, needless to say I was very bored. As I checked out customers every so often and stared at the clock on the screen of my register I waited for the end of my shift. About 20 minutes before my shift was to end a lady came up to my register, after I finished checking her out she explained to me that she was going to be paying in cash and it might take a little bit to figure out how much money she actually had. I was eager for anything to do so I did not mind the task. As we counted the coins that seemed to endlessly flow out of her purse she began to tell me about her day. I found out that the reason she had to pay in a mix of paper money and coins was because she had to bail her son out of jail earlier that day. As we talked I also learned about her other son who was in a mental institution in Washington DC for a psychotic episode. As she recited her day it was obvious that she was on edge and just wanted to purchase her food and go home. I soon realized that there was simply no way that the coins she had presented were going to add up to the price of the order. As she began to notice this, I decided that her items were going to be on the house that night. Despite her protesting she finally took her money back and thanked me for what I had done. After I finished her order we talked for a bit longer until I noticed that my shift was over. To be honest I think enjoyed her presence in the store more than she enjoyed mine. I was relieved to have someone to talk to and learn about some of the hardships in her life. While this is by no means an “act of extraordinary kindness” it is a fond memory of mine as I was exposed to a situation I am not used to. I am happy to have had the opportunity to make a struggling person’s day better, even in a minor way, and it was a feeling I found to be, simply put, nice.