Call my cynical, but I’m really suspicious of the “Kmart layaway angels” story. I love thinking that there are good people out there who would help anonymous others out of a jam. The cynic in me, however, wonders if Kmart set this up as a viral marketing campaign. And the protective person in me worries that poor people are now going to load up their layaway purchases in the remote chance that an angel will sweep in and rescue them for free.
It was Dec. 6 when a woman paid off the layaway for three strangers at a Kmart in Michigan. Since then, scores of people from Missoula to Las Vegas have followed her lead.
“There are people in line and they will just start paying off people’s layaways,” Aldridge says. “It’s given people big hearts this year. It’s bringing people together.”
via Layaway angels’ payoffs snowball at Kmarts | layaway, kmart, woman – The Orange County Register.