Some Chocolate

So I happened to be in the back of the store, grabbing a quick mouthful of water from the drinking fountain.
A woman had followed me in that direction. I'd assumed she'd been looking for the restrooms as they're right there by the drinking fountain.
But as I straightened she was like "Oh, is that a vending machine with chocolate?!" 

Unfortunately it wasn't. The vending machine in the public part of the store is for drinks. 

But in our breakroom we have a vending machine that has snacks in it. 

Normally I wouldn't point this out to a customer.
After all it's in an 'employees only' part of the store, and you don't want customers just wandering into the breakroom. 

But for some reason at that moment I decided to show her where it was. 
I told her that we had the vending machine in our breakroom and lead her inside.

I didn't just leave her there unattended though. 
I stayed there in the room with her, just to be on the safe side and make sure she wouldn't steal anything. 
And watched as she searched her purse for some change.
But her smallest bill she had was a $10 bill. 

And I told her that she could get cash from the register up at the front of the store.

But a coworker of mine happened to be clocking in at that point and so she asked him if he happened to have two fives she could exchange for her ten. 

It took me a second, but I remembered that I actually had fives in my wallet. 
Because my sister had recently paid me back for a purchase I made for her, and she'd paid me back in fives. 

So I took out two fives and exchanged them for the woman's ten. 

But when the woman tried to put the $5 into the vending machine....it wouldn't take them. Either one. 

And I could sense a bit of her frustration at that. 
So deciding to be the good citizen, since it was just a dollar for the chocolate that she wanted, I pulled out one of the dollar bills I'd received from my Mother Dearest, again because I was being paid back for something else I'd bought. 
And placed it in the vending machine. Which took my dollar, for the lady to use. 

In return she handed me back one of the fives I'd just given her.
And I was like "No, you don't have to, you can keep that." 

But she insisted I keep the five.

Because she was grateful that I'd gone the extra mile for her.

You see....her and her husband were at the vet's (which is in the store) and they were about to put down their 16 year old Dachshund, because it was that time. He was old, suffering, and basically would be better off to be put out of his misery.
And they wanted to give him his favorite treat one last time before he passed on. 
That treat? 
A chocolate bar.

-Which admittedly I found odd...because chocolate isn't good for dogs....

But it was their dog's favorite treat.
And she was just grateful that I'd been there to lend a listening ear and to help her out in getting the chocolate for her dog. 

I'm glad I was able to provide her a little bright spot in an otherwise sad day. 

-Sarnic Dirchi