Random Acts Of Wine-ness

My daughter and I ran a billion and a half errands today. They took us into two states and a half dozen stores. Needless to say, we were pretty spent by the time the sun went down.

On our way home I had one last stop at the grocery store. My list was simple and quick. Pizza, wine, mushrooms. Easy enough. We got through the store in record breaking time.

The cashier said hi then yelled "shift leader on register 1" into her microphone. The shift leader came over and eyed me suspiciously. "We are going to need to see your ID," the couldn't-be-a-day-over-19 girl said to me.

"Oh! Sure!" I happily replied. I know that asking to see a women's ID is a form a flattery and I enjoy it every time. I pulled my shiny new temporary driver's license out of my wallet.

"I can't take this," the shift-leading child told me flatly.

"What? Why?"

"We can't take temporary licenses," she replied with a heavy sigh. I felt bad about wasting her precious time. wanting to punch her. the headache she was going to have from all of her eye rolling. I offered her my birth certifiate and marriage license. The exact documents the lady at the DMV said I would need in this very situation. The now seriously bored shift-leading eye rolling child worker looked at them like they were coated in a thin layer of feces. "Uhhh, I don't need those. It is store policy. Only real licenses."

I grumbled something about going elsewhere and took my "fake" ID back. And, let it be known, if I were underage, I would not be trying to buy an $8.99 bottle of wine, overpriced gluten free pizza and presliced/washed mushrooms with an overtired three year old in the cart. Oh, and I wouldn't make it say I was 30-something either. I did, however, fake the grey hairs, just for effect.

As the shift-leader child walked away with the wine she denied me and was far too young to purchase herself the gentleman behind me followed her. He came back moments later with my bottle in his hand. He gave me a quick smile and a wink. I whispered to him that I didn't have any cash to pay him back. He just smile, shrugged and set the bottle on the counter.

I didn't know what to do. Do I stay there and make it clear that he was breaking the rules for me? Do I leave? I decided to wait right outside. Within moments he came out the doors smiling and whistling.

"Their policies suck. I am sorry you had to deal with that," he said as he handed me the bottle of wine.

"Thank you so much! You didn't have to buy this. I don't have any cash to repay you with."

He shrugged again, smiled at my daughter and looked at me, "You have a great evening with your husband. Next chance you get, do something nice for someone else." One last wink and he walked away.

"Thank you!!!" I shouted after him. I didn't know what else to say. I had never had someone do something so unnecessary and so incredibly nice. It wasn't even about the wine anymore. It was about a complete stranger, going out of his way, to make another stranger happy. I was touched by this man's generosity. I don't even know his name.

To the guy in the grey t-shirt who bought the frazzled mom a bottle of cheap wine. Thank you. You have no idea how sweet you gesture was.

And to the grocery store who wouldn't take my 87 forms of identification: thanks to the mystery man, I win. Your move.