Simply Put -"Honest Folks Still Around "- Dec. 11, 2008

By Clint Cox
Every day we are bombarded with news about all the ills of our society. Turn on the TV, pick up most newspapers (of course not The Times) or gather around the water fountain at work and most of the news you hear will be about folks, especially "these young folks" doing the wrong things. If we are not careful, we allow ourselves to think that the whole world is full of nothing but bad and dishonest folks.
But that is not true, and every so often my faith in honest and decent folks gets reaffirmed. One of those reaffirmations happened to me recently. I had made one of regular mandatory payday runs to Wal-Mart last Thursday night. On these mandatory pay day trips to Wal-Mart I always get the cashier to place a $100 dollar credit on a Wal-Mart gift card.
I use this gift card as a gas card at the Wal-Mart gas pumps since I can save an extra three cents a gallon when filling up my vehicle. The previous two weeks I had not traveled much so I actually already had about $45 dollars still left on my gas card. But sticking to my routine, I had the cashier ring up an additional $100 credit on the card. I grabbed my groceries, made my way to the car and headed home.
Three days later it was time to gas up but I could not find my gas card. After looking in all possible locations and unable to locate the card, I wondered if I might have left it at Wal-Mart. Of course my next thought was that if I forgot to get the card from the cashier or if I dropped it, there was a good chance that someone would have taken advantage of my hard earned $145 credit on the card. But I hoped for a long shot and on my way to Tallahassee that day I stopped in to see if the card might have been turned in.
To my amazement, the card had in fact been turned in to customer service. The cashier had put a little note on the card indicating that a customer (me) had left the card. It would have been so easy for the cashier or someone else to use the card. It is basically like cash and there would have been no trace of who used it. But the young lady did the right thing and turned the card in, thereby allowing me to reclaim it three days later. I wish I knew the young ladies name, but unfortunately I don’t.
One of my purposes or goals in writing a weekly column is to spread positive stories and ideas as much as possible. "Keep on the Sunny Side", as the old song says. So remember, Simply Put, there are still honest folks out there that do the right thing for the right reasons.

From the front porch: Coach said keep smiling! And if you notice someone is missing one, give them yours!