Yesterday, we went to Dungloe to do the weekly shop. This week, we shopped at Lidl and Aldi, which are next door to one another, with SuperValu right across the street--very convenient. Also convenient is the fact that the bus we take to and from Dungloe, turns into the bus that does the town run while there. It does a loop around the town three times, starting upon arrival and then twice more an hour apart. All three grocery stores are included in the town run, so we go to one or two stores, place the bag of groceries in the bus and go off to the next one. Usually we end at Aldi and wait there for Joe or Michael to come by during the last town run. We get on and stay on until we are dropped off right outside our door.
Yesterday we ended at Aldi as usual and we waited at the end of the sidewalk. I had my backpack and Bill had his, along with another bag. We placed them on the ground as we waited--just to the left of the corner of the building where you can see the yellow bin in the picture below.
We got here and Joe got out and went to the back, removing Bill's bag. He handed it to me and was about to close the door. I said, 'I think there's another one.' He was surprised and puzzled. 'Is there?' he asked. By then Bill was off the bus and I asked him about the other bag. Only then did he realize that he'd forgotten to pick it up and left it sitting by the wall outside Aldi.
When we got inside, he decided to try to call the store on the off chance that someone had seen it and brought it back into the store. He looked up the number and called, but he kept getting cut off before anyone answered. He decided to try one more time after supper. This time he got through. He spent a while trying to communicate the name of the town--clearly he was speaking to someone at a call centre somewhere. He was asked to spell 'Dungloe.' He described the bag and its contents. He gave the time we were there. Finally there was silence and I figured he was on hold. When he spoke again, I knew someone had returned the bag to the store. The call centre lady told him it was there and they'd hold it for him, so this morning we were back on the bus. We got off at Aldi and went in. There was an employee doing something right inside the door, so I figured I'd explain to him and ask who we should talk to. I didn't have to. As soon as I said we'd left a bag, he nodded and said, 'I'll get that for you.' and off he went. They'd kept it in the cooler, which we appreciated. We didn't have to throw anything away. We packed the stuff into our backpacks and walked around a little, stopping at a little community cafe for some lunch. It was pleasant.
When we got back on the bus a couple hours later, Joe asked if we got everything OK. I told the story to him and the other guy on the bus. When I said that it was nice that someone brought it back to the store, Joe smiled and said, 'You're in Donegal now!' and he had a story of his own about good customer service. I commented on our happy endings and the other guy said, 'You're lucky!' Indeed. We're glad not to have lost €20 worth of food and that it didn't have to get tossed, ending up in a landfill. We're also happy to have the bag back. A friend made it and gave it to us before we moved away from the town where we were living. She has since passed away. The bag is a bit rough now, since it's been hauling stuff for 13 years, across the US and around Ireland. Now that we've almost lost it and celebrated its return, I've decided to reinforce it so we can keep on using it. All's well that ends well!
9 comments:
It is pretty cool that it was returned and held in the cooler for us! :-) We thought there was a chance we'd get it back, but weren't sure.
Amazing…
It was a happy ending! :-)
Ah! So glad you got your bag back. I don't know how you live without a car but then I am a Californian through and through so no surprise there.
We love being car-free! It's much easier here because of the great transport system. It was already fab when we got to Ireland and it's been expanded since, particularly in rural areas and more expansion coming. The free travel pass is cool for people too. Every Irish person gets one when they turn 66 and before that, people can apply to be means tested or if they have special needs of some kind. We live in the middle of nowhere and there are 3 private companies that come through here and a public service--all accept the travel pass. Bill's includes me, so we ride for free.
There is some occasional inconvenience due to not having a car, but cars come with their own hassles. It's just a matter of which hassles people choose. It's harder in the US because of the way things are, but it's a real choice here, which I'm so grateful for!
That is really a beautiful story, dear Shari! It tells of people who are still human, of a society that still thinks of others. A large part of the world could learn a lot from that! I also found the bit about the bag you got from a friend who has passed away really touching. Nice that everything turned out so well!
All the best and have a nice weekend,
Traude
https://rostrose.blogspot.com/2022/06/hochbetrieb-im-lavendel-und-andere-juni.html
Oh, yes, this is a very community-minded country--at least in the rural areas we've been in! I suppose knowing northwestern rural Ireland as we do is the reason Bill went to the trouble of calling--we figured there was a good chance the bag would be taken care of until we could get back! :-)
This is completely off-topic, but I recently read the Austrian author Marlen Haushofer's book The Wall (in translation). I'd not heard of the book or author until a few weeks ago. Great book!
Another wonderful story! Do you have a tag or category on your blog for these? I think you have enough now to warrant one if it's not there already. I've had a couple of those when I really needed them, but few and far between! I think it's lovely when 'the Universe' sort of rises up to help you and renew your faith in society. (I stop short to say 'humanity' as a whole because it's not the same everywhere.)
If I could share maybe something a bit similar: I have helped others as often as I can and right now it's usually my Dr's or people in the medical community... One time I won an large anniversary gift basket full of favorite items from Trader Joes. (I really LOVE TJ's and never win anything.) I looked it over and realized I'd probably love all of those items but that I had one reason or another health-wise that it'd be better if I didn't. So I added a few items to go with them so they could have a party with nachos and such and some baggies to use so people could take some as snacks of the big packages and sent them in to my Internal Med office with some large kitchen crocheted items and a thank you note for their long-suffering in my case. (Only you might probably appreciate this lol.) The Dr wrote back how much of a pick-me-up that was and how proud she was that I didn't partake in most of that stuff and how it was a fun party and they continued using several of the items for a good while in the lunch room (seasonings etc). I kept 'the basket' and the plain crisps lol. (I figure it's a grocery story so it relates.)
I'm so glad that someone had that thoughtfulness to return it to the store FOR you, only slightly concerned that their call center issues might have made it impossible to find out if it was there or not. Can you imagine what you might have felt if you could never find out? I have called the local store a time or two to ask if I left a bag at check-out and they'd give me the items if I could show the receipt. They said 'we just restock it when that happens'. That was surprising and a little sad to hear. The Irish seem to still 'do things better'.
What a lovely story about giving your prize to the medical people!
It was good that Bill kept trying. We both thought it was possible that someone would return it to the store, but I am not sure I would've kept trying to get through on the phone. I was thinking of just going there to ask, but as he pointed out, it would have been a wasted trip if it wasn't there. It all turned out well in the end :-)
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