**(SEE THE UPDATE TO THIS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE STORY!)**

I just spent a half an hour calming down my son who was sobbing.  We went to Publix (on Boyette Rd) to use the gift cards that were donated for our food drive and to buy our own canned food items to donate.  We got a huge variety and filled 2 baskets with pastas, soups, canned food, mac and cheese, beans, rice, stuffing, and so much more.  My son thoughtfully chose the items that he thought would be good to donate.  We had over 300 items in our carts!  Customers walked by and commented, employees helped us, and when we filled one basket we kept it at the customer service desk as we continued shopping.

We went to check out and were over 1/2 way through our stuff.  The bag person praised my son, the cashier said what we were doing was so thoughtful, and my son was just beaming!  He counted items, he told everyone what the food was for, he was so proud.  It was an awesome moment as a parent to see him getting so excited about something that really matters in this world.  I kept imagining filling the shelves at the food pantry, feeding people who might not otherwise have anything to eat.  My son and I were so happy to be able to share our blessings!

Then a manager walked by.  She said she had to get the main store manager because we had too many items per specials.  As she walked away, the cashier assured us that this wouldn’t be an issue and the manager would tell us to go ahead.  The store manager, walked up and without even looking at what we were buying said we were clearing out the shelves and weren’t allowed to make our purchase.  I explained that this was for a local food pantry and that we had chosen a variety of things so we did not clear out any shelves.  We probably didn’t even have much more than what was allowed per special with how many different things we had and considering there were 2 of us so we could split the purchase if needed!  That would have been more than 20 of the same item!  I had even made sure to avoid popular Thanksgiving foods such as green beans and yams because I knew those were in high demand.  He told us that we could special order food but could not make our purchase that day as it was.  This was with more than half of what we were buying already rung up and in bags.  This is after several employees had seen us shopping and even stored one of our carts for us!  Not once did any employee tell us that we had too much of something, even as we filled our carts in front of them.  When I asked the customer service desk if I could keep my cart at the front, no one mentioned anything about the limit on specials despite the basket being full and sitting right there next to them!

I was in tears after spending that much time and putting that much heart into shopping for the food bank.  I told him that he welcome to separate the items to see what we had too much of and to take that out of our purchase, even if it meant less food for the poor.  I really didn’t think there would be much less since I had purposely chosen such a variety of things.  Instead they said that we wouldn’t be able to buy anything left on the conveyer belt.  Of course they didn’t feel like taking all the food out of bags and actually separating it into the specials!  At this point I was too upset.  I just told them to forget the entire purchase.  My son was crying and that was not what this experience was about.

As we walked out of the store, my son was quietly crying but when we got to the car he started to sob.  He turned to me and said (these are his exact words, word for word!) “Mom, we were trying to do something nice and follow Jesus.  My heart was lifted up and full and now it is crushed.”  It took so much for me not to start sobbing myself.

Of course I had a long talk with him about how we would still feed the hungry, just with food from another store.  I told him that he had done everything right and good and not to let anything ruin that for him or make him feel any less proud.  I reminded him that Jesus was given a lot of trouble for the good he did in this world too!  I did everything I could to keep the store manager, or Scrooge as I now think of him, from breaking my son’s heart and making what should have been a lesson in giving and generosity into a traumatic experience about how this world works.  Still, I am left feeling bitter.  I am working hard to keep focused on why we are doing this food drive and what this experience is all about.  I wanted to be sure to share the story here because I honestly cannot believe this even happened!  I wish I would have taken a picture of the items because when Jason called as a follow up they tried to tell him that I had cleared the shelves of specials.  This definitely was not the case.  I made sure of that as I was shopping!  But how would the manager know – most of the items were already in bags and I’m sure it was his employees who put the food away, not him.  I understand having a store policy to avoid people clearing out shelves when there is a special.  I completely understand and agree with that!  But I was shopping for a food drive to feed the hungry.  I was careful NOT to get too much of the same item.  I bought many items that weren’t even on sale, such as rice and beans.  I had my cart at the customer service desk and no one said anything while I was shopping.  And I was more than half way done checking out without the cashier, bag person, or anyone else saying a word about the policy!

I hope that the employees thought about the poor, the hungry, and the people struggling in this community with each can and box of food they had to put back on the shelf.

I have called the Regional Manager and left a message.  I will update when I hear his response.   Depending on how Publix does decide to respond to this situation, I might be sharing the contact information for the Regional Manager and Community Relations Manger and asking everyone to get in touch with them about their handling of our experience shopping for the hungry at a store which says they care about their community.

Now I am off to a different store to buy the items I pledged and try to save this experience for myself, my son, and most importantly the hungry who need this food.

*** UPDATE  ***

Thanks so very much to all of you for the outpouring of concern and caring!  It means so much after this ordeal.  I ended up taking my son to Sweetbay where they helped me to shop, had 3 people ring me up, and had no limits on what I could buy.  In fact when I told them that I was avoiding the traditional Thanksgiving foods so that they would have enough of those for their other customers, they told me that they are always sure to order a lot of food this time of year and I could buy whatever I needed.  They thanked us for helping the community and my son left with a big smile, proud to show off our very long receipt!

The Regional Manager for Publix also called me and was very apologetic about the situation.  He said that the store manager made a poor decision and he expressed his hope that this situation would be used as a learning experience for the store manager.  He did offer to have me give them a grocery list so they could have the items ready in carts for me to come in and buy everything again.  I explained that I was dropping everything off at the food pantry tomorrow and had already bought my items at Sweetbay.  I asked for a Publix gift card as a donation for the food pantry instead and he was happy to offer a $50 gift card.  Jason is taking my son to the Publix right now so that they can give the gift card right to him.  It doesn’t change the way we were treated and the negative experience, and I would have hoped for more (either having the 300 items I was going to purchase donated instead, or having a gift card for as much as I was spending) but it does bring things to a better conclusion for my son.  And of course it does more good for the community and feeds more people!

I am still so shocked that this even happened as I have always thought of Publix as a giving company and a store that cares about the community, but I am happy that the Regional Manager apologized and is donating to the food drive as well.  And I am very grateful for the kind words everyone has shared here on the blog and on Facebook.  This certainly was a “teachable moment” for my son to have experienced!  I guess when all is said and done, life lessons might not always come easy but we need the bad experiences to go with the good.

And when I told my son we’d have another $50 on top of all the food to give to the food pantry tomorrow, he smiled the best smile and said, “That was probably God’s plan all along!  God is good all the time!”  I am so proud of him.