Cashier saves the day with a little kindness

This heart warming image of a simple act of kindness has been shared around the world. Photo / Facebook

A supermarket cashier who helped a blind and autistic girl who was upset has attracted praise from around the globe.

A photo of the shop assistant helping the little girl scan groceries was uploaded to Facebook and has since gone viral.

The image was shared by mother-of-two Amanda Wilkins, who was at a supermarket in Basingstoke, UK, when her two daughters, who are both blind and autistic, started to "go into meltdown" at the checkout.

Lin calmed the girl by showing her how to scan groceries, a dream for a little girl who likes to play 'shops'. Photo / Facebook/Amanda Wilkins

"As you can imagine, shopping is not an easy thing for me to do", Wilkins wrote on Facebook.

But thankfully a thoughtful shop assistant, known only as Lin, stepped in to help.

"She distracted my daughter by letting her scan all my shopping," wrote Wilkins. "A dream come true for Holly who loves playing 'shops'."

Wilkins was touched by the cashier's gesture, and said she encounters very few people who stop to "help instead of judge."

"It melts my heart to come across people that are prepared to go the extra mile," she wrote. Little acts of kindness make a massive difference to my world. I hope this gets back to her and she knows how much we appreciate it."

Wilkins took a photo of Lin with her daughter, and the image has been shared more than 100,000 times on Facebook.

And it turns out it isn't the first time Lin has lent a helping hand.

Aww this is Lin our daughter adores her," said one commenter. "Lin has always made such a fuss over our little girl Bella and even let Bella sit in her fab car when we spotted her leaving work one day."

"She is amazing, another person wrote. "When I used to go here daily for my lunch she was always smiling and interacting with customers."

The good news story has since featured in newspapers around the world, including Thailand, Canada and Lithuania.

-nzherald.co.nz