The world around us has turned out to be so cutthroat- that some of us literally have to rely on the kindness of strangers to survive. This is why when customers step into the Brooklyn Center Liquor Store, they feel really delighted to see Ace waiting upon them with a smile. Ace, or Ta Leia Thomas, has been the crown jewel of this establishment, and Tom Agnes, the Operations Manager of the Center did mention, “I wish I could have a dozen Aces on staff.” While it feels pretty out of the ordinary to see a manager praising a staff so highly, the staff did find himself involved in a situation where she became the good Samaritan. The entire incident was also caught on camera, which catapulted the store’s status in question.
Agnes stated, “I came back from lunch on Tuesday and Ace is helping customers and helping people out in her socks.” The video that is captured narrates the incident prior to this. Firstly, we see a homeless individual digging into the trash to find anything that would function as makeshift shoes. But Thomas acts up in an instant- as she later stated, “I saw his feet and I just automatically took my shoes off.” And to really put things in perspective, her shoes weren’t cheap either. They were her favorite pair of purple retro Jordans that represented her favorite team from Minnesota.
The Kindness of Strangers
But Thomas, the woman who really highlighted how the kindness of strangers could be the difference between life and death, stated, “He said nobody would ever have given me shoes like that. And I said, ‘Well, I’m not everybody.’ And he was like, ‘Thank you so much’, and I see him walking away and he’s walking away with pride.” She later said, “I was always taught to help others. You never know what their problem is, or what they are going through.” After finding out what his staff had done, Agnes personally purchased a new pair of sneakers for the woman, so she wouldn’t have to finish her shift wearing just socks. He also put up this inspiring news on Facebook, where it became viral quite fast.
While everyone would be happy if the story ended here, we also saw another human believing in the kindness of strangers. While Agnes did end up raising the money to get her favorite sneakers back, he decided to ask Thomas what her life at home was like. “She kept posting on social media about her mom that she wants to take care of her mom and I and what’s going on with your mom Ace? She said, ‘She’s all I have in this world. I take care of her she doesn’t have a bed. So, she sleeps in my bed and I sleep on the floor.’ And I’m like, ah. We don’t need to get Ace a pair of shoes we need to get Ace a bed. So, I gave her cash instead of the shoes to get mom a bed.”
