This entire weekend has been rainy. Dark. Dreary. Drizzle. Downpours. Depressing. Somehow the alliteration of my words echoes the dullness of the day. So… what better way to beat the doldrums… but to don my raincoat and drive out to perform a RAK! 🙂
As many of you know, several of my RAKs occur at grocery stores. Usually this is because I am ALWAYS grocery shopping. (Hey – I like to cook and I like to eat… it’s a logical place to spend my time, lol!) Kroger, Martin’s, Food Lion, Target, Walmart, Pole Green Produce… if you sell food, chances are I have visited your store a time or two!
Some people clip coupons; some people look for sale flyers… I’m a gal of convenience. If I need something and you’re on my path from here to there, then I’ll shop at your store. I like to stick with stores where I know the general layout (mainly because my time is precious and it’s easier to run in and out if I know where something is located versus hunting the entire store for a box of rice noodles that can only be found down the Asian food aisle.)
There are times when grocery store chains try to reel me in as a repeat customer by offering special deals or perks. Kroger offers fuel points and sometimes if you purchase gift cards there you can earn up to 4x the price paid. Now that’s a good deal! Food Lion is currently running a special where each week if you spend a certain amount of money you earn a ticket – 6 weeks of tickets can be redeemed for a “free holiday meal” (which is a $20 credit on your next food bill.) That’s a good deal, too!
Well, as luck would have it, I earned three tickets, not six. Again, I shop for convenience, not for dedication. Instead of just throwing away the tickets which were useless to me, I decided to take this rainy weekend and bring a little sunshine to someone else’s day.
I made a sign, explaining that the tickets were free to take, then I taped each ticket to the message along with my business card so those who received the RAK could visit this website and read the background story of their RAK. Then I drove to Food Lion and taped my sign and tickets to an outdoor display right outside the storefront doors.
I thought maybe someone might be collecting tickets, but missed one week, or maybe didn’t spend enough money to earn a ticket. Whatever the reason, I hope the person (or people!) were blessed by this Random Act of Kindness. If you are reading this today and you were the lucky recipient, please comment below if you like to share the joy of paying it forward!
I hope you can find inspiration in even the darkest of days to bless someone else in fun, creative ways. Performing this RAK sure did bring a smile to my face! 🙂