“Right here, this is where the whole hustle started,” Wahlberg said as he stood in the parking lot. “I was bagging groceries, $3.65 an hour, while I was right up the street getting my driver’s ed,” he continued. “Same day I turned 17, I got my driver’s license, I bought a Pontiac (expletive) for $200 from Lappen’s Auto Parts. We’re going to see if I can get my job… if I can get my job back.”
“Remember, it started right here at Stop & Shop,” Wahlberg said as he pointed toward the supermarket. The Patriots Day star then walked inside the store to meet some of the customers. “It’s bagging groceries time. I’m getting my job back,” he told the customers at the checkout as he bagged their groceries. “The oranges are a little heavy for the paper. You want double or single?”
“Get out of here!” said a female employee who was stunned when she saw Wahlberg bagging groceries. Another added, “Doing some serious good in this world, this young man.” Wahlberg also joked with the employees. “I’m telling Jeff to get me my job back,” he said.
Customer Raymond Li was getting his morning coffee at Stop & Shop when he was surprised to see Wahlberg. “I looked around the corner and I was like there’s no way I am looking at Mark Wahlberg bagging somebody’s groceries,” Li told WHDH. “Everybody was super excited, they have staff there who were jumping out of their registers trying to go up to him to get a picture,” he said. “He was a very nice and down-to-earth guy.”
As a teen, Wahlberg was quickly identified as the “kid from the wrong side of the tracks.” The Boston native credits his dramatic life transformation to the parish priest who mentored him and helped him get “back onto the straight and narrow.” Despite his success in the entertainment industry, he has never forgotten his roots.
