Lakehead alumna experiences a good deed during the pandemic

Lakehead alumna Jaclyn Boyd (BEd ‘18) had been back in Canada for 17 days after returning from teaching a grade 2 class in London, England.

After coming out of self-isolation in early April, she set up her Canadian credit card on Apple Pay and went to Walmart for groceries early in the morning, leaving her purse at home to help prevent the spread of germs and to have one less thing to carry. Little did she know that Walmart does not have tap.

“I’m just used to the UK, where you can bring your phone and pay for anything you want with Apple Pay,” she said.

After finding the items she was looking for, Boyd arrived at the front of the self-checkout line with a stuffed-to-the-brim Walmart re-usable bag looped over one shoulder and her arms filled with groceries.

“I said to the woman working there, ‘you accept tap on the machine, right?’ The look of pure horror on her face when telling me they don’t have tap pretty much said it all.”

Boyd felt as if she was going to cry. She had just waited in line to get into Walmart, found everything she needed, waited in line to pay, and now she wouldn’t be able to purchase her groceries.

Then a woman – one of four customers using the self-checkout machines ahead of her who Boyd called “the best person in the world” – turned and said, “Let me pay.”

Boyd was so shocked by this kind act that she was again near tears, this time from happiness.

 “The reason I was surprised is because we are in a pandemic and people are trying to stay away from each other and save as much money as they can,” she said. “She offered to pay before I even rang in my groceries; she didn’t really care about the cost. It just goes to show you how generous and kind she really is.”

After the woman helped her, Boyd immediately used her cell phone to transfer the $127 cost of the groceries to the woman, plus a little more as a thank you.

This is not the first time Boyd has been involved in an act of kindness. She’s the type who will pay for the person behind her while purchasing food at a drive-thru.

“You never really know what people are going through,” she said. “It’s all about karma. You put something good out and hopefully get something good back. And I definitely got something good back.”