One Dollar

Have you ever heard anyone say that they were having one of those days. I can promise you that nobody has ever had one of those days that I had. I only had $2111 to my name. I just paid all of my bills. The mortgage was $1125. My light bill was $155. My gas bill was $105. My water bill was $75. I also had to pay $372 for my child’s medical bills. That did not include the $5 I had to pay for her prescription. After adding tax, the total amount of everything came out to $2112.55.

Still, I had to buy food. My family had to eat. I had to buy cleaning supplies. Cleanliness is next to godliness. So, I went to the store and picked up some catfish, rice, and some vegetables. I got some bleach and rubbing alcohol. Since my children had been so well behaved lately, I got some ice cream, candy, and pop also. My total was $40.35. Well, all

I had left to my name was $24.15. I put back the ice cream, pop and candy. That brought in down to 27.62. I took off the rubbing alcohol. It was not 25.15. I couldn’t afford to take anything else off. All of it was needed.

“Can’t you let me slide with one dollar.”, I said to the cashier. “I’ll bring it back in less than an hour.”

“And I’m just supposed to believe that.”, he responded. “Take something else off or get out my line.”

Then he started to mumble not so much under his breath.

“I’m sick and tired of these bums coming in here trying to get over on people. Probably had a $100 bill in his wallet.”

He was not the nicest person in the world. I can understand he was not allowed to let even one dollar slide by, but he could have rejected it in a nice way. He didn’t have to be so rude. Regardless of the wickedness of some people, the world is full of angles. One of the other employes came up to me and gave me $1.

“Thank you, sir.”, I said. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”

Now, I am a man of my word. If I say that I’d be back, I’m coming back. I went home and searched the house for change. I found 2 quarters, 3 dimes, 1 nickel, and 15 pennies. That’s $1. I returned to the store and offered the change to the man that helped me out. Despite my insistence that he take it, he refused. He said that he was happy to help me. He didn’t need repayment.

I later heard that the employee who refused to help me, he was the one that was in need of just one dollar.

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What you just read was fiction, but it was inspired by real events. I, the writer, was working at a store. A customer was in need of just one dollar and my co-worker berated him. He even wanted to call the police because he asked another customer for a dollar. When I gave him the money, my co-worker looked at me as if I was a fool.

No, I didn’t know what he really needed the money for. I didn’t know what all he had done with his money before that. He may have had more money in his pocket. I’m not stupid. I realize that there are people out there who do all they can to deceive people, to get over on them. But I also realize that there are people out there that spend almost all of their money on medication, and now no longer have enough for food. I’ve seen people use government supplied funds to buy candy and other junk. But this guy was buying food. What is $1 to help someone out. When he returned with the change, I knew I did the right thing.

That night, after the store closed, I finished all of my work early. I went to help out the co-worker who refused to help the customer. He was happy that I did. The following day, he was the one that finished early. He was instructed by the manager to assist me to finish.

“Why do I have to help him.”

This just shows how some people just don’t know anything about kindness, small or great.