One particular time, the nursery I worked in was having a Halloween party, and I needed to find items to go with my costume—specifically, a hat.

I hunted high and low for the right hat, but to no avail. Then, I went into our local supermarket, and there, sitting on the shelf, was a beautiful purple hat—perfect for what I needed.

I rushed over to the checkout, relieved that I had found my beautiful hat. However, the lady at the checkout immediately informed me that the hat wasn’t sold in the store and that she had never seen one like it before. The manager came over and confirmed that the hat wasn’t one they had ever stocked, even though it had a barcode on it.

I felt crushed. The manager must have seen the disappointment on my face because he told me, “If you want the hat, you should make a donation to the store’s charity.” So I did.