Shopping can be a stressful experience in general, but holiday shopping has a way of boosting our stress levels even higher. However, we should always remember that everyone we meet is dealing with their own struggles and try not lash out without thinking about the consequences, as one woman in Colorado recently learned. Paige Yore was waiting to check out at her local Walmart, but the line was moving very slowly. The young cashier was having a difficult time ringing up the groceries of the woman in front of Yore, and eventually that woman decided to let him have it!
Yore describes the scene in her now viral video by saying, “He can’t ring anything up, he can’t remember the codes, he’s taking deep breaths…” The woman did not seem to notice that the young man was distressed. She just knew that the entire checkout process was taking much longer than usual. Instead of keeping her cool, she ripped into him with statements like, “You suck at customer service! I don’t know why you ever… got hired here.”
Yore felt bad for the young man behind the counter, so she decided to step in and help him bag the woman’s groceries. She then loaded them into the woman’s cart, hoping this would speed up the process and end the woman’s tirade. Unfortunately, that was the moment when the cashier had to tell the woman her card was declined. As Yore says, “Then she really lays into this kid, like it’s his fault… and goes off on this kid.” Yore could not take it anymore, and she asked the woman to wait at the side so the others could check out. The cashier was so caught off guard by her gesture of kindness that he began to cry. He made his way out from behind the register and embraced Yore. She hugged him back as he sobbed in her arms.
Yore attempted to soothe the young man, but he stopped her so he could explain the reason behind his display of emotion, “Ma’am, my mom just committed suicide this morning, and I have to work because I have to pay our rent, and I have to pay our bills. And I don’t even have a mom anymore … and this lady is just yelling at me.” Paige was struck by his story, and the magnitude of his pain weighed heavy on her heart. She began to cry as well and gave the cashier all of the money in her wallet. Even the woman who had been yelling at him looked visibly embarrassed and was moved by his story.
After Yore left Walmart she decided to make a video from her car about this emotional experience, with the goal of reminding others to show kindness to everyone they meet. She never expected to reach so many millions of viewers, but that is exactly what has happened and that number is still climbing. Yore concluded her video with this statement: “That just showed me that no matter what… don’t jump down their throat because they are fighting a battle that none of us know about. Just like all of us.”