An Irish grocery store clerk is being praised by social media users around the world this week after his touching act of kindness went viral.

An elderly man was recently trying to purchase some groceries at a Lidl in Belfast, but his bank card kept getting declined. The way the cashier responded to the situation left another customer so shocked that the person took to social media to praise the employee.

“Today I watched one of your till staff pay for an elderly man’s shopping from his own wallet. I don’t think the man was aware that his card kept declining and didn’t seem to understand that the staff member had paid for it as he didn’t say thank you, he just walked on with not a word,” the customer wrote on Facebook. “But I saw it. I saw him discreetly pay and sat back down at his till like it never happened. I wanted to let you know that this is one of the kindest acts I’ve seen from a staff member ever.”

“It was in your Connswater branch just after 9am,” the customer added. “It would be nice for him to hear a thank you that he didn’t get from the customer he helped.”

The cashier has since been identified as David Vance, 35, who was stunned when his good deed went viral.

“Last week I didn’t think I did anything out of the ordinary, I just noticed one of our regular customers needed a hand,” David said. “I was a bit taken aback to hear about the Facebook post and the traction it got – I don’t even have Facebook myself!”

“At Lidl customer satisfaction is at the heart of everything we do and David is a fantastic ambassador for our business,” a Lidl spokesperson added. “We were delighted to see David’s actions be recognized by a customer on our Facebook page and so we are making David our Customer Service Champion for October.”