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Last week I wrote about the story of the “coin on the copier.” In a “comment,” Steven Jackson, one of my students, shared a similar story. It’s too good not to call your attention to it. And I do so with this invitation: What’s YOUR coin on the copier story? I’m sure others would love reading such stories, as I know I would. Here’s Steven’s:
Thank you Dan for your story. I have one similar to that. I went to a store(I think it was Target, but I don’t remember) and upon check out the clerk gave me about $60 additional in change. I was with a younger cousin of mine and he thought I should keep it. My cousin Hakim said to me, “That’s good luck. You should just keep it. No one will know. That’s their fault.” I told him, “I’m going to return it because it doesn’t belong to me and even though they may never know, I will.”
My inner selves were speaking to me and I was thinking about Karma. I’ve always earned money since I was pre-teen so I’ve never had that mentality to take or receive something I haven’t earned. I took the money back into Target and the cashier looked shocked. She was a small Filipino lady who seemed as though English was her second language. She hugged me and started crying. She said that she had three kids and was going through a stressful time in life that was causing her to forget and mess up. Her managers had threatened to fire her if her register came up short one more time. The woman cried from joy and I’ll never forget that. She told me she would have lost her job and been homeless had I not came back. That day I left the Dime on the copier. My cousin Hakim references that event a lot. He is reminded that we should Lead with integrity because he saw me Model The Way. I don’t know what happened to the cashier but I hope that my actions helped give her a second chance to work through her problems. It gave me a valuable lesson on how our actions not only alter life for ourselves, but for others. [emphasis added]
Again, I’d love for you to share your story here, but if not here, might there be a “Hakim” in your life who might really benefit from your story of a coin on the copier?
Lead with your best self!
Dan