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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
National
Iona Young

East Lothian stranger made schoolboy's day with unexpected act of kindness

An East Lothian stranger has made a schoolboy's day with an unexpected act of kindness. Jayden and his mum Shona McNulty had taken a trip to their local Dominos on Saturday night to get a treat for movie night.

Unfortunately, due to leaving in a rush, the mum only had cash on her and the pair didn’t know until they had ordered that Dominos no longer takes cash, only card payments.

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The incident took place on Saturday, October 8, in Tranent and after looking forward to the stuffed crust pepperoni pizza, the 11-year-old was gutted.

So his mum suggested they go to the local Chinese instead, but within moments a kind stranger stepped in and paid for the pizza. When Shona tried to give him the cash he politely declined and said "pass the kindness on to someone else."

The Tranent mum and her son were blown away with the kind act that made their night. She explained that they were genuinely touched by the gesture and how it inspired her son about kindness in the world.

Speaking to Edinburgh Live, mum Shona McNulty said: "He wanted a movie night and asked if he could have a pizza from Dominos. So I said yes. I picked up my car keys and money and we drove to Dominos.

"It's not that far from where we live. When we arrived at Dominos, there were two men waiting on their pizzas.

"Jayden hummed and hawed about what he wanted then decided on a stuffed crust pepperoni, so he placed his order. When the lady said how much it was I handed her the money, only for her to tell me that they didn't accept cash it was card only.

"I explained to Jayden, that we would need to leave it as I didn't have any of my cards on me. He was disappointed but understood and I told him we could go for his favourite from the Chinese."

She continued: "Just at that the younger man asked the lady how much it was and she told him and he immediately said he would pay for it.

"I said to him that it was OK and he didn't need to but he insisted. Even Jayden said he didn't need to.

"Both Jayden and I offered the money but he just wouldn't take it and said I could pass the kindness onto someone else.

"His dad said that he was going to do the same and pay for the pizza too but his son beat him to it.

"Both Jayden and I couldn't thank them enough and we were really grateful and touched by his gesture. Jayden couldn't stop talking about how kind they were.

"When a kind act actually happened to us I was genuinely touched."

Shona then took to share in a local group writing: "I would like to thank the young man who was in Dominos Pizza tonight in Tranent with his father for paying for my son's pizza. I didn't realise they didn't take cash and neither of us had our cards.

"We were just about to walk away and the young man stepped forward and paid for it. His dad said that his son just got in before him as he was about to do the same.

"I did offer him the cash but he wouldn't take it. He said for me to do the same for someone else which I certainly will do. My son said that both of you were very kind and I genuinely can't thank you enough. I hope you all enjoyed your pizzas."

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Lisa Aird then got in touch and said: "Very proud to say, that was my lovely husband", so Shona was able to pass on her thanks.

The East Lothian community were touched by the kind act with the post gathering hundreds of likes.

Angela Nicol said: "There are a lot of lovely people out there. Sadly we don’t hear enough due to all the badness of people in the world."

Keith Jeffrey exclaimed: "We need more people in the world like that!"

While Lisax Dalzielx added: "Love this it's great to hear good things for a change."

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