19-Year Old Cashier Goes Viral For Being Patient With Elderly Woman

Indianapolis, IN — 19-year old Ishmael Gilbert had only been working at an Indianapolis area Target for just a few days, when his kindness and patience caught national attention and went viral on social media. Gilbert, who works as a cashier, had an elderly customer who approached his register wanting to pay for items with hundreds of coins.

Without thinking twice, Gilbert patiently helped the woman count her coins, and never once showed any sign of anger or annoyance. As some customers in his angrily line left to pursue a shorter one, one customer, Sarah Owen Bigler, stayed, and took a picture of Gilbert and posted the picture on her Facebook account with a nice message describing what he was doing. That picture went on to be shared more than 25,000 times.

Sarah wrote on her post:

I found a line with just one person ahead of me and began organizing my items on the conveyor. After placing my items, I look up to see that the person ahead of me was an elderly woman. She was paying for her items with change and wanted to purchase each separately. Part of me, the part that had a long day at work, the part of me who had a 1 1/2 year old having a melt down in the cart, the part that had set an unnecessary timeline for Target and getting home, was frustrated with this woman and the inconvenience she had placed on me…

BUT then I watched the young employee with this woman. I watched him help her count her change, ever so tenderly taking it from her shaking hands. I listened to him repeatedly saying “yes, mam” to her. When she asked if she had enough to buy a reusable bag, he told her she did and went two lines over to get one for her and then repackaged her items. Never once did this employee huff, gruff or roll his eyes. He was nothing but patient and kind…

If you are ever in the Glendale Target (in Glendale, Indiana), give Ishmael a smile and a nod. The world could use more people like him.

 

“It just feels good to be recognized for good work.”

Gilbert initially knew nothing about the picture or the post; He didn’t even know his photo had been taken. He comments, “I was asleep at home and everyone was texting me, ‘check Facebook, check Facebook.'”

“I never thought it’d blow up this big. Her post, I guessed it touched a lot of people,” he said.

He continued, “It just feels good to be recognized for good work. But this isn’t something new. I treat all customers the same, the way I want to be treated. It felt good because that’s the kind of example I want to be for my daughter.”

 

If you want to meet Ishmael or pay him an act of kindness, visit him at:
Glendale Town Center
Target
6101 N Keystone Ave #200
Indianapolis, IN 46220