By Debra Pickfield.
BURLINGTON, ON. July 2, 2013. They were doing something right.
It was 9:30pm on Friday night at the 7-11 at Guelph Line and Prospect St. First day off school, long days of sunlight, the weather cooling off after a few warm days.
Teenagers were in the store collecting their snacks for parties and I happened to stand beside three 11-12 year old boys with long-boards, trying to decide what drinks to buy with the little money they collectively had.
Carmelita, cashier at the 7-11 convenience store at Guelph Line and Prospect, knows the three boys who were in her store. we’d like to know who they are. Can you help?
They raced over to the refrigerator to pick their drink and in their haste were a little too clumsy and before you knew it a drink was on the floor leaking away.
What happened next totally surprised me. Fully expecting them to leave the bottle or hide it and then take another one, the leader of the three boys said “OK – we’ll have to pay for this one – let’s pick it up and tell them what happened.” Not one of the friends disagreed or complained.
They did exactly what they said they would do, and I was trying to suppress a grin that desperately wanted to come out. These kids did what I struggle with – taking accountability for their actions even though no one was looking.
I wish I knew who they were – their parents/guardians/teachers need to know what an exceptional job they are doing raising three great young boys.
Carmelita, the cashier at the 7-11, knows the boys well since they are often in the store. She put it well – “they are always honest about how much candy they buy – some people try to sneak more – but these boys always play it straight”
Thanks guys – you couldn’t know how good you made me feel to watch that scene unfold the way it did. In my world you absolutely rock.
What kind of story is this? What is it about? I’m confused. What did the kids actually do and how did it get on this blog?
Hi Antony
Thanks for asking the question since I’m sure others may be asking the same thing.
Often the response to an accident (in this case they dropped a bottle and it leaked) is to pretend it didn’t happen or blame something or someone else.
In this case the young guys didn’t blame anything – they took responsibility for the accident and were willing to pay for the bottle they couldn’t drink. It’s unusual in today’s society and to see this group of kids step up with great values is something that I wanted to recognize.
Too often we focus on negatives – and in this case they were just simply great kids being honest when no one would have said anything if they hadn’t offered to pay for the drink.