A Big W shopper had to “hold back my tears” after a store employee’s amazing act towards her two sons, who both have autism.
Shopper Jacqueline said she had taken her two non-verbal sons, aged three and five, to look at what birthday and Christmas presents they may like from the toy section of her local Big W in Bunbury WA.
The single mum said she had a friendly conversation with one of the team members at the store who was working nearby, explaining her boys’ developmental delays which made it difficult for them to choose gifts from a catalogue.
When Jacqueline and her sons made their way to the checkout sometime later, the staff member and a colleague gave her a bag to take home – with the two toys her sons had picked out as their favourites inside.
Sharing the story on a popular Facebook page, Jacqueline said she didn’t expect the “extremely kind” gifts and thanked the Big W staff for their kindness.
“I just wanted to share something that happened today in my local Big W,” she wrote in a post on the BIG W MUMS AUSTRALIA Facebook page.
“I took my boys in to have a look at the toys to hopefully give me an idea on what they might like for birthdays and Christmas,” she continued.
“My boys are five and three but they are also non-verbal autistic with global developmental delay so flicking through the catalogue doesn’t really get us anywhere (the one I did grab got ripped to pieces).
“My oldest son found the Little Live Pets Pooping Flamingo and fell in love with it. We kept doing loops back to this flamingo even after he took interest in other things.
“At risk of upsetting him and causing a meltdown I said to him that we wouldn’t get it today (something I had been saying before we even walked in the shop). He was clearly disappointed but walked away as asked.
“We moved down to the final aisles that are set up in the middle of the shop purposely for the toy sale and had a look through.
“There was a lovely lady that worked there who was going through writing down where everything was and moved the trolley out of the way.
“We had started talking and I made mention of why we were there and why we don’t use the catalogue. I had made mention of how much my oldest loved the flamingo and also the fact that my youngest wasn’t really giving me any ideas however if all else fails we would find some more cars that he doesn’t already have (ASD parents will know).
“We continued on our way and finished doing what we were doing.”
Jacqueline said she was stunned when she was stopped and given the bag as they were about to leave.
“As we were about to head to the checkout, the lady I had spoken to and another staff member stopped me and handed me a black bag which had the flamingo and a light-up car and said that Big W wished to gift them to us,” she wrote.
“My response was ‘Are you sure?’ ha ha. I was completely overwhelmed and trying to hold back my tears.”
Fans of the retailer were blown away by Jacqueline’s post.
“This made me cry, this is amazing of them. I hope your boys love their gifts,” one said.
“Beautiful. Sounds like you and your boys deserved something lovely to come your way,” another commented.
“And that’s why I go to Big W! That is the most wonderful gesture by those ladies and I hope their manager knows about it,” a third said.