Hey everyone, it’s been a while. I’m sure all three of my blog readers have missed me. Joking of course, as you know, there are very few entries in this thing I call my blog.  That’s because I only write when I have inspiration, or when the desire to share something with the world presents itself.

I got the privilege to enjoy a conversation with a gentleman today that I’ve seen before, and have fulfilled his requests in the past.  I did my job however I had never spoken with him.  So just to put a name to a face (because I really don’t know his name… yet) we will call him Joey. Joey comes up and makes his requests for fulfillment and I start to work on them. When he goes to pay for his drinks, he starts to tell me about his experience at IHOP.  He leads into the story about his usual server we are going to call “Monica” that takes care of him, not having any space in their respective section to be the person to take care of him.  This person then goes and asks a fellow server “Rachel” (yes, I’m using ‘Friends’ characters, because it should help with your visualization) if she could occupy one of her empty tables, (now if you’re a server or have ever been in the food industry, your “section” is your territory and the primary source of your income for the shift.  You protect your territory, and on the rare occasion you give part of it away) the server said “sure” and so Joey took his seat at the table.

Upon ordering and completion of his meal however Joey realized that he did not have any money with him, and then asked his server Monica, to speak to Rachel.  Well Rachel arrives at the table and Joey proceeds to tell her in embarrassment his particular situation and asks her to borrow money to pay his bill. Not knowing the outcome or how Rachel would react to his request he put himself out there.  Well he said something that really hit home with me. He gave us the back story that Rachel has children, is a single mother, and this is her source of income.  Well upon his request he said that Rachel didn’t even skip a beat, take a moment of hesitation at this unusual request, but immediately reached in her apron and pulled out cash, sufficient to cover the bill as well as a small tip for her co-worker Monica.  Servers work for a very low hourly rate with the understanding that their income will be supplemented by the amount of tips earned in their shift.  Rachel without questioning Joey gave away her income to help him out, and her fellow co-worker Monica, and put herself last. I was shocked at how this story ended up.

It made me really think, if I were Rachel, would I have done the same?  Of course, I would like to say I would, but in that moment I might not have reacted the same.  I know a lot of people would struggle with that choice/decision as well.  There is nothing wrong with that either, but I find it interesting that Joey shared that story with me.  I finished up my conversation with Joey and he was getting ready to walk away, and told me, “You never know what someone’s story is, but you do know that you should never talk down to someone because of where they are in life.” He was right. Completely changed my mood, not that I was in a bad mood, but I was left with a little more faith in humanity from my conversation with Joey.

So about 10 minutes later an older man comes up carrying something in his arms. Let’s call him Ross (no, there is no relation between Monica and Ross, ha-ha) and asked several questions pertaining to the beverage he was ordering. He speaks with a very heavy accent he later explains is Colombian. I looked at what he was carrying and recognized it was a chessboard, now at this point and with my history of working with people, I’ve learned not to be assumptive and asked him if it was a chessboard. He confirmed it was, and so I told him that I knew how to play chess, not very well mind you, but I did know how to play. He smiled and said, “it is a good game, and I like the challenge.” So I asked Ross if he was meeting someone or had just finished playing a game, and he informed me that he plays 2 games by himself everyday. He stated that nobody plays with him, so he challenges himself, and it made me wonder if I secretly was meeting the muse of the Pixar short film “Geri’s game.”

So Ross receives his order and then goes to sit down, and says to me, “One day when you aren’t busy, would you like to play a chess game with me?” I informed him that I wasn’t great, but I would be more than glad to play a game with him. He smiled and remarked as he was walking off, “I’m going to kick your butt young man.” I couldn’t’ help but smile, and look forward to actually sitting and playing a game of chess with Ross, and learning just a little bit more about him.

Anyways, in life we are often times put in situations where we are asked to do things we wouldn’t normally do.  Sometimes it involves physically taxing labor, other times it can be as simple as playing a game of chess with an older person, or it can be finding forgiveness in your heart for something that has happened in the past. Whatever the situation may be, we will find ourselves faced with choices, and decisions that are left to us to make. So what decision would you have made? Only you can answer that, not to me, but to yourself. I do urge you to think about each other, your peers, loved ones, brothers and sisters, and each and every other inhabitant of this great planet. Be a Rachel because the world is in dire need of more Rachel’s.

If you’d like, leave a comment, I love to read peoples thoughts, or share this with your friends.

Until next time, be well, love fiercely, spread light, and make a choice.

Always,

–L