I currently live behind our local variation of Kroger’s, so rather than doing a big shopping trip once a month or so, I’ll go whenever I need something.

Being me, I tend to run out of everything at once, and am far too stubborn to make two trips or use a cart.

Today, I was being my usual awkward self, hugging a pack of toilet paper to my chest, my right arm desperately clinging to a basket with a soap refill, deodorant, and orange juice, and my left arm groping through the clearance section. An employee came out the doors behind me and looked at me.

To my surprise, instead of simply saying, “Can I help you find anything?” and moving on his way, this older gentleman continued to chat. “Oh, yes, looking through clearance is fun. But if I can help you find anything, just let me know! By the way, I love your scarf!”

I looked down at my frazzled self, hair unwashed, jeans with paint, and the mess of purchases mostly hiding the scarf in question. And then I smiled, because this employee genuinely liked it.

“Thanks! I got it at a thrift store!”

We then spent a few minutes chatting about thrift stores versus garage sales versus brand names. As I turned to leave, he reiterated, “I really like that scarf. You’d never tell it came second hand!”

Now, I’d been having a bit of a rough day (think like a country song). So to have a complete stranger take two minutes from his day to not look through me, nor need anything from me… well, that felt good. He was standing by the door when I checked out about ten minutes later and paused me again. “I hope that you have a very nice day,” he emphasized, and waved me on my way.

As I walked home, I felt my heart lift a little bit, still clutching that toilet paper.

Even when things are hard, there are always good people in this world that will go above and beyond what their paycheck dictates they do. And I was pretty lucky to find one of them.