What Would You Have Done?

A friend of mine lives in Florida and she works in a small, independently owned pet store somewhere in Panama. The employees all receive a discount card that gives them 50% off of their entire purchase and they can use it up to ten times in a month. The employees can also use a friends discount card, in addition to their own, to get stuff for free. They get first pick of all of the animals that they sell, puppies, kittens, rodents, birds, reptiles, fish, ect. They deal with local breeders, as well as private owners and sell purebred, as well as mixed breed puppies and kittens and, instead of keeping each individual pup in a cage by themselves, they have them all set up in pens where people can go in and play with them. She and the manager of her shift have been best friends since high school and the manager, before she was promoted, helped her get the job.

One day, when my friend and her manager friend were working, a young woman and her four year old daughter came inside to look around. They had just gotten a new litter of cocker spaniel puppies and the little girl sat down in the pen while all of the puppies piled on her. All of them left her but one: the little female runt. The mother was talking to the manager and said that her husband had lost his job and they lost their house and had been living in a car before her mother found out (and was furious, if you can imagine) and then they moved in with her. When they lost their house, they had to find homes for their two dogs and, now that her husband was employed again and they were renting a little house that allowed pets, and they were back on their feet, they told the little girl that they would get her another puppy in a few months, after they had saved up the money. While they talked, the little girl carried the pup around the store while she looked at all of the other animals. When her mother said that it was time to go, the child started to cry and beg for the puppy and her mother told her that they couldn’t afford one right now and that they would get one in a few months. “But it won’t be this one. She won’t be here anymore.” The manager leaned in closely to the mother and whispered “I can use my discount card and give you 50% off and that young lady over there…” she said, pointing to my friend, “…can use hers and get you another 50%. We really want that little girl to have that puppy.” The mother burst into tears and nodded her head. My friend took the little girl around the store and let her pick out a dish, collar, leash, food, and a couple of toys and used their discounts and got her the $300 puppy and $65 worth of stuff for free. The manager told the store owner, because a couple of employees were fired for giving their friends their discounts and one even got caught selling them, and she took responsibility for it and the owner just smiled and said that he would have done the same thing.

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