Day #83 - Kindness

Last week I went to lunch with three co-workers. We went to the Cheesecake Factory and I, for once, made a reasonable food choice for lunch. It was delicious and the company was excellent. The service, however, was friendly but SLOW. We were on our lunch hour, so it got a little hectic at the end trying to waive down our server and get the bills handled.

Lindsey and I were the first out the door and were sitting in the car for what seemed like FOREVER, but was probably only 5 minutes. When the other two got in the car we found out what took so long and I was reminded of the spirit of the season.

The Cheesecake Factory is typically a very busy place and I was surprised at lunch there weren't more people there, especially at this time of year with all the shopping going on; it was busy, but there was no wait. We sat at a table with two seats against a long booth that ran all the way down the wall with two chairs on the other side. In these situations there are mulitple tables fairly close with no wall separating the tables.

While we were eating a single occupant took a table two down from us. It was a older-middle aged woman eating on her own and it seemed like she was there to really treat herself. She wasn't wearing the most fancy clothes and seemed a little disheveled. I barely gave her a glance, let alone a 2nd thought during lunch, but my workmate, Lesley, took notice of her and was paying attention. Unbeknownst to Lindsey and I, as we scuttled out of our seats in a massive hurry to get back to the office, Lesley was paying for this woman's lunch on the sly. I am sure she would not have said anything to us about it, but Sandra ratted her out when we gave them a hard time for lolly-gagging.

I was really shocked and amazed...then I was wondering what I missed...Les said she just felt it was the right thing to do. Her feeling was this was a rare treat for this woman and something she may not be able to do often and, "wouldn't it be fun to surprise her with a free meal". I thought about this later...if I was the woman who expected to pay my bill and the server told me it was already handled, how would it feel? I think it would be amazing and gratifying.

This is a side to Lesley I have not seen before. She is very quiet and keeps to herself doing her work. I have only recently had the opportunity to get to know her better and, after this example of her character, look forward to discovering who this lovely person is that I get to work with. It is also a reminder to keep my eyes open for opportunities to enrich another person's life - they are everywhere.

I Am Grateful,
HB

Diva Quote: "I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.” --Rabindranath Tagore