An older woman forced to work as a cleaner long after retirement age is stunned to find a huge sum of money in her bank account.
What is more terrifying than getting old alone and penniless? Lucy Martin was sixty-seven years old and had worked hard all her life as a mid-level administrative in a big Mid-West company.
However, shortly before her retirement, Lucy and her colleagues discovered that the money in the company’s retirement fund was gone. The specter of a miserable old age loomed, the dream of a comfortable retirement evaporated.
Lucy was forced into retirement by the company’s dissolution days before her sixty-fifth birthday. She had to take a job, any job, and at her age, all she found was employment as a cleaner at the local college.
Old Lady Who Works as a Cleaner Thinks Her Bank Account Is Almost Empty, Finds over 0K in It – Story of the Day
Fortunately, Lucy wasn’t the kind of woman to weep over spilled milk or whine about the unfairness of life, so she buckled up. She took great pride in doing her job and doing it well.
Over the nearly three years that Lucy had been working as a cleaner at the college’s dorms, she had become a sort of unofficial campus granny.
The students knew that if they had a problem and needed a shoulder to cry on, Lucy was there. When she noticed that a new student was struggling to adapt, Lucy went out of her way to make them feel at home.
One particularly miserable winter, several of the kids at the dorm caught a terrible flu that was doing the rounds and ended up bedridden for several days.
Lucy had shown up after school hours with a hot thermos of chicken soup and babied them all. She gave them hot tea and toast, brought them orange juice, and basically played mom.
To many of the students, some away from home for the first time, Lucy was a godsend. Her ready smile and motherly teasing drew the shy out of their isolation and calmed the anxious.
Don’t despair, because life might just surprise you.
“Hey, Grandma Lucy,” cried Matthew Frost, one of the students who was just recovering. “Your chicken soup is a magic potion! Your children are very lucky.”
To Matthew’s surprise, Lucy’s eyes filled with tears, and her brilliant smile dimmed. “Oh, I have only one daughter, and she lives 3000 miles away in Arizona.”
Old Lady Who Works as a Cleaner Thinks Her Bank Account Is Almost Empty, Finds over 0K in It – Story of the Day
Matthew was sick and Lucy brought him hot tea and chicken soup. | Source: Pexels
“Hey!” Matthew said, confused and concerned. “It’s nearly Thanksgiving, so you’ll be with her soon, right?”
But Lucy didn’t seem to feel comforted by Matthew’s comment. She pressed her hand to her mouth and ran out of the dorm room. She came back an hour later and her eyes were red and swollen. It was obvious she had been crying.
“I’m sorry, Lucy,” Matthew said. “Please tell me what is wrong. You’ve always been there for me. Remember when I wanted to switch courses and was afraid to tell my dad? Let me be a friend to you as you were to me.”
Lucy sat down at the feet of Matthew’s bed and cried. “I’m so sorry,” she said once she’d calmed down a little. “You see, I haven’t seen my daughter in over three years.”
Old Lady Who Works as a Cleaner Thinks Her Bank Account Is Almost Empty, Finds over 0K in It – Story of the Day
Lucy told Matthew that she hadn’t seen her daughter in years. | Source: Pexels
“I can’t afford the trip, and she can’t afford to pay for me either. She has two babies and her husband is unemployed,” Lucy explained. “She needs help, and I can’t give it to her.”
Matthew held Lucy’s hand while she explained how she had lost all her savings and the pension fund to a scam, and why she had to work so hard at her age.
Matthew said, “Hey, you remember what you said to me when I was down? Life always surprises you, and every difficulty brings new strength. I believed it, now it’s your turn…”
Lucy walked out of Matthew’s room feeling oddly comforted, but as she was leaving the dorm, she saw one of the second-year students sitting on the steps crying, with a crumpled envelope in her hand.
“Liz!” Lucy said, immediately forgetting her own sorrows. “What’s the matter, honey?”
Old Lady Who Works as a Cleaner Thinks Her Bank Account Is Almost Empty, Finds over 0K in It – Story of the Day
Lucy saw Liz sitting on the steps looking very sad. | Source: Unsplash
“Oh, Gran Lucy,” Liz sobbed. “I have to drop out. My scholarship only pays three-quarters of my expenses and the bank refused to extend my student loan. My parents are having a hard time, so they can’t help me either…”