She was 18, fresh out of high school and working her very first job at a grocery store when an elderly woman in her checkout line realized her purse was gone. TikTok creator @whatsinthekoolaid had about $40 in her bank account and no paycheck coming until the end of the week. She paid the woman’s $27 bill anyway, and two weeks later the woman came back to find her.
She called it “a good customer story, for once,” and she could barely get through it without crying.
She was usually stationed at the service desk, but that day she was on a register when two very old women came through her line together. They were sweet, giggly and chatty, and each had her own order. The first woman paid and stepped away. Then the creator rang up the second woman’s groceries and told her the total, a little over $27.
A Missing Purse at the Register
The woman turned to get her purse from her cart, and it was not there. She dug through the cart and shook out the coat she had tucked in the child seat. Nothing fell out. Then she turned back to the young cashier in tears.
She apologized for holding up the line and said she would have to put everything back. She explained she was not from the area, lived about an hour and a half away, and had only stopped to shop because she was out with her friend.
“She wasn’t being mean to me. She was just like trying to figure out what to do,” the creator remembers. Looking at that total, she made a quick decision. “I know I have $40 in my bank account and I don’t get paid until the end of the week, but like this is worth it.”
She swiped her own card, handed over the receipt and told the woman she was all set. The woman broke down sobbing and thanked her. The young cashier waved it off with a joke that it would have been more work to put everything back, and the day went on. Every so often, she found herself hoping the woman had found her purse.
The Angel at the Service Desk
Two weeks later, she was back at the service desk when the same woman walked up holding a small box. “Oh my God, it’s you,” the woman said. She had planned to ask whoever was working if they knew when the young cashier would be in.
Inside the box was a small angel figurine.
The woman explained that she was 88 years old. She had left her purse at home that day and did not realize it until she reached the register. She has no family left, she said, and her friend takes her on one outing a week to do her shopping. She pays for groceries with an EBT card and would have felt uncomfortable asking her friend to cover her, knowing she could not pay her back in cash.
“You made it so that I was able to eat that week and I’m really grateful for that,” the woman told her. She said she spent a long time at a paper store looking for the right gift, and chose the angel because the young cashier had been, in her words, “an angel sent from heaven.”
Then she had waited another week and made the hour and a half drive back, just hoping to run into her. The two hugged and cried, and the woman also gave her a small Bible. The creator says she was not religious at the time, but the gesture was so sincere it moved her deeply. They talked so long that she got in trouble for leaving her post. “But like, can you blame me?” she says.
@whatsinthekoolaid
That was in 2013. She never saw the woman again and admits she does not remember her name. But she still has the angel. Its wings have fallen off more than once, and each time she glues them back on. “Every time I see it, I think of her and that moment and how sweet that was,” she says.
If You Ever Lose Your Purse While Shopping
That moment of panic at the register can happen to anyone. A little preparation makes it far less frightening:
- Do not leave your groceries behind. Ask the store to hold your order at the service desk while you sort things out. Most stores are happy to do this.
- Retrace your steps calmly. Check the car, the cart corral and the customer service desk. Many purses are turned in within minutes.
- Act quickly if it is truly lost. Call your bank and card companies to freeze your cards. An EBT card can be reported lost through the customer service number your state provides, and a replacement can usually be requested.
- Keep a backup. Tuck a single emergency card or a little cash somewhere separate, like a coat pocket or the glove box, and keep a written list of important phone numbers at home.
- Consider a phone wallet. Adding a card to your smartphone’s digital wallet means you can still pay if your purse stays home.
And if you are ever the person standing behind someone in that spot, a small bill paid with a kind word can stay with both of you for years.
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