Tesco worker delivers full grocery list to 99-year-old veteran’s home after panic buying left him with nothing
A Tesco worker proved that there is much good in the world after he came to the aid of a 99-year-old war veteran who was unable to buy anything on his shopping list after panic buyers left the shelves empty.
All the elderly man could find on his list was a comb. A compassionate citizen revealed that he stepped in and was able to arrange groceries for the man, Norman was unable to find any bread, eggs, Marmite, and beans in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
32-year-old Dan Scott who is an area manager from Basildon in Essex, U.K., said he was left in tears as Norman was forced to leave Tesco with none of his essentials except a comb. Dan offered to personally go over and deliver "whatever he needs" to his home.
Dan shared on his Facebook page, "Yesterday I met a man called Norman, he asked for some help with his shopping list. Sadly in these times, I couldn’t get Norman anything off his list but a comb. I was devastated. So I wrote down my number and asked him to call me with his list tomorrow, I will get it for him early and take it to him."
"Norman, being very humbling, said he’d try again tomorrow and when I asked how he was getting home, he laughed and said he was driving. He's 99 years old. I was truly overcome with emotion when he left me and thought how can this man not get any food," the post read.
"He’s got a daughter but you can imagine her age. So I asked someone in Tesco to do me a shop overnight so that I could collect first thing," Dan revealed. He added how he went around to his neighbors to ask whether they had anything they could spare for those who were more vulnerable.
"I was overwhelmed with the generosity of people we managed to get a huge hamper of food. Me and my colleague Carole surprised Norman with everything on his list and a lot more!! He was so grateful and said 'I’ll live like a king till I’m 100 now'. Please can people share this, so we get a message out there that people buying all these products and clearing the shelves," the post read.
Dan also added how Norman had told him that he had "more food in the war" before urging people to "think about that for a second". "By clearing the shelves, it’s stopping people like Norman getting food and ultimately forcing them out every day to try and try again to get basic food. It’s truly the least I could do for him."
He further revealed how Norman was a regular customer at Tesco and is normally helped by the customer service staff when he does his weekly shopping. "The store was very busy on Thursday when he came in so I said for him to get a cuppa in the cafe and I’ll go off and do his list. I couldn’t get him everything because the store was so busy the shelves were cleared. I cried. It was so emotional," he shared.