Unnecessary Charity

So my very best friend hosted a sleepover birthday party for her daughter. Twelve girls ranging in age from 7 to 12 slept over, and I'm sure you can imagine the drama and noise that accompanied this little horde of girls.

The next morning one girl was in semi-hysterics because she forgot to pack socks and she absolutely, positively could NOT be seen wearing tennis shoes without socks!!!

So my friend, who had very little sleep and I imagine very little coffee, drove this little girl to the local dollar store to buy her some socks. They were both in their pajamas. Up at the cash register my friend realized she had gotten "baby" sized socks and left the girl at the cash register while she ran back and switched the baby socks with girl-sized socks. When she came back the little girl handed her a FIFTY DOLLAR BILL and said some man gave it to her with the instructions to give the money to my friend saying, "tell your mom that your clothes are on me."

After paying for the socks with her own money, my friend searched the store and the parking lot looking for this man to give him his money back. She interrogated several people who were there wanting to know who this man was and how she could find him to give him his money back. No such luck, the man disappeared and no one knew who he was.

She felt a little horrified (as I would) because she (and this girl) looked so awful that the man assumed they were homeless or otherwise could barely afford decent clothing that some random guy who was trying to do the right thing spent fifty bucks to help them out.

The thing is, she is gainfully employed and making pretty decent money. Her husband is likewise employed and they really look nice most of the time.

She didn't know what to do with the money. I told her if it was ME I'd keep it in a secret pocket of my purse and the next time I saw someone at the supermarket or grocery store trying to decide what to put back cuz they didn't have enough money I'd whip it out and "pay it forward," but she said she'd lose track of it and end up accidentally spending it thinking it was hers.

She ultimately decided to give it to a local charity.

It was sure nice of that guy but he did his good deed on a person who didn't really need it.

Over all I thought it was pretty funny! But at the same time I feel a little bad for that guy for judging my friend on what she looked like that morning.

What would YOU do with that fifty bucks??