An employee at a Walgreens in Houston was recently rewarded after she gave her last remaining dollars to help out a complete stranger.
An act of kindness: Walgreens cashier Rita Jackson Burns touched a lot of people’s hearts when she used the last $20 in her account to pay for a customer’s purchase earlier this month, MSN reported.
- Rita is already known by her colleagues for her kindness and work ethic.
- Customer Rina Liou witnessed these qualities firsthand when she visited the store a couple of weeks ago.
- Rina was in a rush to buy some light bulbs, but when she was about to pay, she realized that she left her phone and wallet.
- Seeing the customer in distress, Rita did not hesitate to offer to pay for Rina’s items.
- “I said, I will go ahead and pay for it, for you,” Rita was quoted as saying. “I just was a little short on funds.”
- With just $20 in her account, Rita swiped her debit card to cover $12.41 and then “prayed her finances would all work out.”
- Incredibly touched by the kind gesture, Rina later returned to Walgreens that evening to pay Rita back and added a little extra to express her appreciation.
Subscribe to
NextShark's Newsletter
A daily dose of Asian America's essential stories, in under 5 minutes.
Get our collection of Asian America's most essential stories to your inbox daily for free.
Unsure? Check out our Newsletter Archive.
Paying her back: When Rina shared her experience on the neighborhood app Nextdoor, she was shocked to find that many of the app users knew Rita for her incredible character.
- According to user Meg, “Rita is the happiest, best employee that Walgreens has to offer in normal circumstances.”
- Another user named Renee chimed in with: “Rita is the best!! She is such a lovely person and always remembers me by name and always asks how my mom is doing.”
- Meanwhile, user Leslie shared why everybody liked her: “She is amazing and puts a smile on my face each time I go into Walgreens. She has watched our kids grow up over the past 20+ years. She asks about them every time.”
- Following the exchange, the group of neighbors decided to create a GoFundMe page for Rita to express their love and gratitude for her.
- The crowdfunding campaign originally had a goal of $5,000, but it has since reached the $8,000 and $10 000 milestones.
- As of this writing, the effort has so far raised over $11,000 out of its $12,000 goal.
Rita, who has worked at the same Walgreens for 38 years, told KHOU11 that she considers human contact an important part of the job. She also shared that she treats people the way she wants to be treated.
Feature Image via KHOU11
