You Reap What You Sow.

I haven't had a chance to walk very much this week. It has been a week of work meetings, and birthday celebrations for my 13 year old; celebrations which are continuing over the next few days. This has to be the birthday that keeps on giving.

This morning I went to my local market to do my shopping for tomorrow. Each time I enter the market, I always seem to gravitate to the same fruiterer. I am a creature of habit and tend to follow the same routine. My husband will tell you that I rarely compare prices, and for someone with an economics degree, he finds this quite bizarre. I like to buy what looks good and is fresh, and truth be told, I want to be in and out of there in record time.

But something happened to me at the market on my last visit that made me change the way I was going to go about my shopping today.

On that particular day, I had just purchased a whole trolley full of fruit and vegetables from my usual stall, and then made my way to purchase some salmon from the fish stall. On my way back from the Fishmonger, I realised I had forgotten to buy some sage. I was passing the other fruit stall at the market, so I picked up a bunch in order to save time and not to have to go back to where I had purchased my other goods a few minutes earlier.

I took the small bunch of sage to the cash register and asked what the minimum EFTPOS amount was. The man at the register said it was $10. I was willing to buy something I didn't need in order to bring the total up to $10 as I didn't have any cash; that's right, not even $3. The man told me to take it and not to worry about paying for it.

I was really taken aback by his generosity. Sure, it was only a small amount of money but it was a huge gesture, and boy did I feel guilty, me and my trolley full of fruit and vegetables from this guy's direct competitor. But still, he just smiled and was happy for me to have it, with no expectation at all.

That small investment of money today landed him two new customers; my mother and I. And because we are Italian, and we love our food, I would say that is a pretty big windfall.'

Today, I just couldn't shop at my regular stall. I felt that I needed to repay the kind gesture and so we did. Two massive boxes later and I told the guy why it was that I was shopping at his store. I wasn't going to tell him at first, but as we were talking he was telling me how much the market and his clientele had changed in the last 25 years since he started his stall. He is a bubbly fellow and I often see him laughing and chatting to all of his customers. I could just see that he would appreciate me telling him why. So I did.

He didn't remember at first, but I as I relayed the story to him, his face just lit up. I told him how that kind gesture had saved me so much time and how appreciative I was. He said that I had made his day by telling him that. What I had told him was worth more to him than all of the money he could possibly make that day. The thing is that he had also made my day by being so grateful to hear my story. And it didn't stop there. He then gave mum and I a discount and some freshly squeezed juice. His son and nephew carried our goods to the car. The service was exceptional and his genuine nature has landed him a loyal customer in me from now on.

A hard working gentlemen no doubt, he said his wife keeps telling him that he will never be rich because he keeps giving things away. He said that he is rich; rich in his heart. I sympathised with him and said: I totally understand, I think I may have the same problem.

What a wonderful role model to the young boys working for him. It's not everyday you come across genuine generosity of spirit. Wouldn't it be nice if it were such a common thing that you wouldn't notice it when it happened?

It is very true that "nobody ever became poor by giving".