I did it again today. I do it nearly every week. I did some ’shock & awe’ in the Aldi grocery store parking lot. If you want to blow people’s minds; get them stammering, mouths ajar, then grinning from ear to ear: give them your cart at Aldi and refuse to take their quarter. Seriously. It blows their mind every single time. Such a small gesture of kindness, and folks just don’t quite know how to act. Amazing. Sad – in a way.
Many try to initially refuse, but I say something like this, “It’s a sad day when I can’t bless someone with a shopping cart and a quarter. Take it and consider it a ‘Friday Present’.” That’s when they usually smile, accept the cart, keep their quarter and off they go.
For those who may not know what I’m talking about, in case you do not have Aldi stores near you; Aldi has a cart return system, where you insert a quarter into a chain mechanism that strings the carts together, and this releases one cart for you to use. After you’re done shopping, you return your cart, and you get your quarter back. Very simple – and it keeps costs down because they never have to go round-up carts in the parking lot and everyone always wants their quarter back. 
So I decided to bless people with a quarter every week. Honestly – it’s just a quarter, but you should see the look on people’s faces! I also carry an extra quarter or two in my pocket, just in case someone doesn’t have one and needs a cart, because of course, this system doesn’t give change – you need an actual quarter.
So that’s my mission of Shock & Awe – and it only costs me .25 cents. 
Written by Traci Knoppe ©: Aside from her roles as wife, mother of six, mother-in-law and grandmother, Traci also works at home as a business owner.
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That’s neat Traci. Amazing how little acts of kindness can go a long way huh.
Way to go Traci! I love it. I once heard of a bridge in California where people on the way home from work would pay for the next car and it caught on and became sort of a “get home quicker” tradition and lots of people were sharing the joy. You are so right and it costs so little to spread a little happiness. 
What a great idea, Traci! 
The next time we go to Aldi, we will pass on the blessing. 
What a great and simple way to make a person’s day. Too bad we live in a time when people do not know how to accept gestures of kindness right off the bat.
Yes, Renee, that is the shock and awe in this whole lesson. That others truly do not know how to handle it when all I want to give them is a quarter. Twenty-five cents. They look at me like there’s a catch or something. And of course, there isn’t. It’s a sincere and honest gesture of kindness. So simple – and yet obviously so rare in our society today that others do not know how to accept it.
I also always let someone go ahead of me in the checkout line. I have a large family, and of course, have a full cart of groceries. There are usually many in line with just a few items, often carrying them in their arms; I have them go ahead of me. I could still be unloading my cart and they could be checked out and gone. Why hold them up waiting on me!
Small ways to bless others that don’t cost you anything; well… maybe a quarter. 
Traci, Hubby and I do things like this all the time, too, and people really do not know how to handle it. So glad to know you pass it on, too. It’s so much fun to bless others, isn’t it? May the Lord bless you!
[...] I do my ‘Shock & Awe for .25 Cents‘ each week at Aldi when I go grocery shopping. I interact with people wherever I go. A [...]
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