Paying at the Bank

I was visiting my local bank branch the other day.  Our family needed the help of a notary public to witness signature of a document we had received.  The customer service representative, Harriett, who I’ve gotten to know during the past year, was helping someone so I sat down in one of the waiting area chairs to wait my turn.  I picked up a magazine and started to read a car review, but couldn’t help but hear a good part of the conversation Harriett was having with her customer behind me.

It turned out the woman Harriett was speaking with had generated a number of extra charges due to the Overdraft protection she had for her account (she had been buying medicine).  The customer wasn’t complaining about her situation, but she was trying to understand what had happened.  Apparently Harriett knew the lady pretty well and the two worked out how the woman could repay, over time, her current fees.  The lady left and I never did turn around to see her.

My turn came.  Harriett notarized the document and I left, still thinking about the woman who I had never seen.  That afternoon I had a strong sense that I had missed something.  Maybe I had missed an opportunity.  I called Harriett back the next morning and asked about her customer from the day before.

The customer was Peggy.  Among her many high qualities, Peggy was a real pet lover.  She was known for taking in strays and she lived very frugally with her husband, not too far from where I did.  Harriett mentioned that she and Peggy had known one another for about five years, and that Harriett had used her own discretion and removed many of the extra fees the bank had applied to Peggy’s account.  Harriett said Peggy was now very sick from the smoking habit she had when she was younger. Thinking about it I remembered how much Peggy had been coughing the day before.

 I told Harriett about Pay-It-Forward and how I wanted to meet Peggy.  I didn’t know where the meeting might lead, but I asked if she would be willing to make an introduction.  Harriett called Peggy and set up a time for us to meet back at the bank.

When I saw Peggy it was clear that she was very sick.  We sat and got to know one another for about an hour.  She had been through a number of health struggles over the last twenty years.  She had become unable to pay for the medicine she needed for her lung and other ailments.  As she talked about herself, she explained about a mental illness she had come through due to a brain injury that still required medication.  She said it took her a long time to accept her need for treatment for the disorder and that she had caused her family quite a bit of pain in the process. 

I told Peggy about what our company was doing with Pay-It-Forward and how I wanted to assist her and her family.  She wasn’t sure she could accept a gift, but I explained how I believed this help was supposed to come to her.  She came to understand.  While I appreciated the money that the company was providing, I decided to do more.  Peggy received $2,000.  She said she never imagined anything like this happening to her.  After she read through the Pay-It-Forward sheet she told me she would be finding ways to pay others for what we were doing for her.  Peggy said her first stop would be at the pharmacy where her medicine was waiting.  I hope and plan to stay in touch with Peggy in future and plan on paying it forward as I am called to do.

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