Spreading Christmas cheer, mystery shopper picks up bill at Hilton Head store

Holiday kindness was in full effect on Hilton Head Island Saturday, as a mystery man at a Dollar Tree checkout stand decided to pay for the woman behind him in line, kicking off a pay-it-forward chain.

Bluffton resident Kaley Van Eenenaam was shopping for supplies at the Hilton Head Dollar Tree after having her wisdom teeth pulled the day before. She grabbed some ice packs, apple sauce, water syringes and a pill organizer and headed for the register, where the man in front of her, after checking out, handed the cashier a $10 bill.

“The cashier looked confused and so did I️,” said Van Eenenaam. “He looked at him and said ‘I want to pay for the young lady behind me too.’”

She tried to tell the man it wasn’t necessary but he was having none of it.

“He insisted and said that he wanted to spread more holiday spirit around the island,” said Van Eenenaam. “He smiled at all of us, tipped his hat and left!”

Van Eenenaam said the experience “put the biggest smile on my face.” So she decided to pay it forward. With her five or six items paid for, there was still some of the $10 left, so she put $5 of her own money up to pay for the person behind her.

After making her purchase and leaving her $5, she smiled at the people in line behind her and left, so Van Eenenaam doesn’t know how long the pay-it-forward chain went on for.

“I hope it continued on though!” she said.

Van Eenenaam said in a post on the Bluffton/Hilton Head Ask and Answer Facebook group that she saw the person she paid for pay for the next person in line, so the chain continued for at least a little while, it seems.

That Facebook post was received enthusiastically, getting over 450 likes and loves in less than a day.

It isn’t the first time that she has found herself in a pay-it-forward chain, though.

“The same thing happened to me last year around Christmas time, in the drive thru at Starbucks! By the time I got up to the window they told me that it had been going on all morning,” said Van Eenenaam. “Everyone just wanted to pay for the person behind them. Even if they had an order for the entire office, people still paid it forward.”

Van Eenenaam concluded her Facebook post Saturday by thanking the stranger in front of her, and talking about what gestures like his mean for people and the Hilton Head community.

“You never know what kind of day somebody is having, and your small gesture could bring a big smile to their face,” she wrote. “We have such amazing locals here! Merry Christmas y’all!”

This story was originally published December 10, 2017 at 2:51 PM with the headline "Spreading Christmas cheer, mystery shopper picks up bill at Hilton Head store."