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Walmart Checkout Clerk Pays For Senior Citizen Who Was Short On Cash

By Robert Jonathan
Published on: 13:24 PST, Dec 14, 2014

Walmart cashier Jenny Karpen reached in to her own pocket to help pay for the groceries of an elderly man who didn’t have enough cash to pay for all his items.

Karpen, a nursing student, is a new Walmart hire at an upstate New York store who definitely has the Christmas spirit.

The older man at the checkout counter, who was a complete stranger to her, was buying food for himself and a pet, but started to put the dog food back when he realized he lacked enough money to cover everything.

As she was ringing up the groceries, Karpen explained to ABC News 10 that “I felt really bad for him. I didn’t want him to go home and not have something that he really needed to eat.”

With that in mind, she took $40 from her own wallet to complete the man’s full purchase. Apparently the gentleman didn’t fully grasp her act of kindness as he left the store.

The next customer in line at the register, however, saw what transpired and offered to reimburse Karpen for the $40 that she gifted the elderly man to help him afford his groceries. She declined, citing a Walmart policy against accepting money from customers. That customer brought the matter to the attention of store management, and the rest is apparently history.

“There should be more people like that in the world. We just need to clone Jenny. We need to have Jenny’s one through ten,” said assistant store manager Jamie Cobb.

With regard to the publicity that the good deed subsequently generated in the news media and on social media, Karpen said, “To me, it’s something that’s done every day. It’s not such a big deal to me.”

According to Yahoo! News, “If Santa’s watching, there is one woman in upstate New York who has definitely made the nice list this year… The man remains a stranger to Jenny; she never asked for his name. But no doubt he will always remember her act of kindness.”

In an appearance on Fox and Friends, the generous Walmart employee suggested that others perhaps might also consider paying it forward.

“I would like for people to open up their heart and just to give every day, just to think about somebody else besides themselves every day. And not just over the holidays, but throughout the year. Just have an open heart,” Jenny Karpen affirmed.

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