It’s no secret that grocery shopping is the definition of an adult CHORE—especially since COVID-19 times have hit.
The only way I can get my husband to push the grocery cart for me in a pleasant manner is by bribing him with food both before and after.
Ashley Jordan is no stranger to the headache and stress of grocery shopping. The mother of three from Columbia, South Carolina, spent her Saturday night managing a crying one-year-old and maneuvering two loaded grocery carts through Walmart with her husband, Michael.
To add to the dreaded situation, Ashley is a stay-at-home mom. So the stress of grocery shopping only starts with the grocery store itself, and grows more and more financially stressful with each item that’s placed in the cart.
In a Facebook post that has now gone viral, Ashley says she’s encountered some rude people at the Walmart in her area, and generally doesn’t like to shop there.
But on this given Saturday night, her “whole perspective changed.”
“We literally dread going to Walmart and buying groceries period because my husband’s whole check goes to food for our family. I will say that I’m not a fan of shopping at Walmart because of how rude some of the people can be. But after tonight my whole perspective has changed.”
Sharnique Dasant is a customer service manager at Ashley’s Walmart. She also happened to be the family’s cashier and guardian angel that night.
The couple loaded their items onto the conveyor belt, all while trying to calm their fussy one-year-old, and really just get out of the store as quickly as possible.
“Half of the time the cashiers don’t engage in conversation but the cashier we had tonight was very friendly. I can’t remember exactly what she said but it was along the lines of you must have a big family y’all have a lot of stuff. I said yeah we do.”
Sharnique rang up all of their things and told Ashley the total.
As the worn-out mother dug through her wallet and tried to get all of her money in order, she says Sharnique did something completely unexpected.
“She gave me a smile and said you guys look like you need a blessing tonight. I just smiled back.”
That’s when the cashier walked around to Ashley’s side of the counter, and punched a couple of things into the keypad. Ashley thought she might have been giving them a coupon or something, but Sharnique was following what God told her to do:
“As we’re scanning and scanning, she got in front of me and it’s like I saw a different face on her,” the cashier told local news. “And I just had like a little man on my shoulder that was like, ‘Give her a $100 dollars, give her $100.’ And I was like, ‘Give her $100?’ Like, I’m talking to myself like, ‘Give her $100!’”
As Sharnique returned back to her register, she looked at Ashley and said, “God told me to give you $100 dollars.”
Ashley Jordan
“I then looked at the total and I was at a loss for words,” Ashley continued. “This sweet woman whom I never met in my life paid for half of my groceries! I was in complete shock because I never expected anything like that to ever happen. Me and my husband were just staring at each other like is she serious? Did she really just do this? I was really at a loss for words. I didn’t know what to say. How could this woman who didn’t even know me, know our situation, know us, why would she do this?”
Ashley says she and Michael left the store and just smiled at each other.
“At that moment we both knew things were going to be OK because there truly are good people out there.“
She closed the now-viral post with a ‘thank you’ to Sharnique saying:
“You truly are a blessing and you will never realize how much you helped us out and how much faith you have put back into our heart.”
Ashley’s experience just goes to show that God is alive in all of us. He prompted Sharnique to care for this family, and the blessing she was able to give them is worth more than $100 ever will be.
