Free Lunch
So the day of the bombing, I leave work in the Cougar and head home. I figured Teddy & I needed a good ryde to help sooth our aching souls. Its odd how well our canine companions can pick up on our own moods, often times, mirroring them themselves, such as Teddy does.
Not wanting to depress the pup anymore than we were, I decided to stop by the Wendy's drivethru, as they have Teddy's favorite fries. There's no Wendy's close to where we live in Covington, but there is one right outside of downtown Cincy on the West End, which is mostly a business disctrict but also has alot of crime, so I rarely go in that area, except for the rare occasion to stop at that Wendy's while on the way home from work.
So I get behind this SUV and we're both in the turn lane waiting to pull into the Wendy's parking lot, and the SUV finally has an opening and goes. As I'm watching, I see if the SUV pulls in fast enough, I should have just enough time to also slide in behind them, otherwise I'm going to be waiting for another 20-30 cars of downtown traffic to get by, so of course, I speed in right behind the SUV kinda close. I don't think the other driver was paying attention to what was going on behind them, or maybe it was just me being too dang impatient or aggressive :lecturef_smilie: but when the SUV finally did see me right on their tale, they kind of gunned it, to make sure I had enough room to get into the lot without either stopping traffic or getting hit :shocked: I kind of felt embarrassed but was glad that they did, cause at first, they were just crawling along and if they kept that speed, things would have gotten a little scary.
Well, I was thinking the SUV was probably gonna be p*ssed that I made them 'jump on it' and honestly kind of anticipated see'n a bird coming my way, but I didn't see anything of the sort. In fact, the line was probably 8 cars long, and when we finally got to the window to pay for our order, the cashier had a BIG smile on her face and said,
"Your friend in the car ahead of you already paid for your order hunny, and said for you to have a blessed day."
My jaw litterally dropped open, as I was holding my debit card in my hand to give to the cashier. She shook her hand at it, and said, "Uhn Nuh, not today baby, you keep that & you listen to that lady and you enjoy your lunch and you have a blessed day." I looked around for a camera, like I was being 'Punked' or something like that. I mean, sure, this happens when Teddy is with me, more than once even. But NEVER had this happened before, when it was just me. I literally was in shock. I know its not that big a deal, but it just stopped me in my tracks. Here I was expecting this person to be p*ssed at me & was watching for a fly'n bird to tell me as much, and the person turns around, and buys my lunch for me.
Again, I know its really NOT that big a deal, $6 or $7 for a combo meal, but that's not the point. It helped to wake me up on a day I really needed it. We've ALL heard about Random Acts of Kindness, but how often do we practice it ourselves? Such a small effort brought about something so needed at that very time. When one can loose faith that society has 'lost it' in senseless acts like the bombing, yet one individual makes a small insignificant seeming jesture, yet it means so much more ............................. more than that individual will ever know.