Jeff Greene went to Trader Joe's with his wife, son, daughter Sophie, and her boyfriend on a Saturday, searching for yummy desserts. Then they spotted a box of key lime pie that caught their interest.
After a brief chat about the sweet treat with a nearby employee named Tara, Jeff placed the pie in his cart and headed to the checkout.
But at the checkout, Tara surprised Jeff with a kind gesture.
"She handed me a box of key lime pie with a receipt taped to the top," he tells PEOPLE exclusively. "She had bought me a key lime pie herself and took the one I was about to purchase out of my cart. It was such a lovely and unexpected gesture."
The family was so touched by Tara's kindness and thanked her as they left the store in Wayne, New Jersey. Jeff decided to bake a key lime pie himself for Tara to return the kind gesture.
Jeff and his wife gathered in the kitchen to bake the pie. Once they finished, accompanied by their son, they headed to Trader Joe's to present it to Tara.
"I thought it could potentially be a really positive thing to do," Jeff says. "Especially given everything going on in the world, a small act of kindness and humanity goes a long way."
On the way to the store, Jeff's son Cooper explained their mission on camera. When they arrived, they waited for Tara near the freezer section, to capture the moment.
"When she came out, she immediately recognized us," Jeff recalls. "She seemed genuinely touched. Tears started flowing. She kept saying how much it meant to her at that moment."
"We hugged," Jeff adds. "My wife, my son and I hugged her. Unfortunately, we didn't get her last name."
The heartwarming video was later posted on TikTok. The video quickly got over 420,000 views, with many comments praising the family and sharing similar stories of employees going above and beyond for customers.
"There were so many positive responses," Sophie says. "People recognizing the store and sharing their own experiences of kindness."
Jeff hopes their gesture brought Tara joy and highlighted the impact of simple acts of kindness in today's world.
"It's important to remember that not everybody is nameless or faceless when you go into stores," Jeff says. "The simple gesture of baking someone a pie can have a significant impact. Tara was clearly touched by it, and that made me feel good that we did something like that. Her kindness in return, though not expected, was deeply appreciated."
"The next step is actually trying the boxed key lime pie," Jeff jokes. "I haven't even tried it yet. Then we need to go back to Trader Joe's and let Tara know what we thought of it."
Source: People