Well Earned Respect

I work in an area known as Medical City.

It was developed and designed to be a community driven by health, sports and education. After build out and completion (in less than two years) it should be a community of 35,000.

The new Veteran's Hospital is truly what every member of the armed service deserves, and needs.

I have one customer, an outpatient from there, who is one of my favorite people to wait on.

He's a Vietnam vet, probably about ten or fifteen years older than me.

 He's confined a wheel chair, has a patch over one eye and the use of only one hand.

 He doesn't have many teeth, his speech can be slow or slurred...on a good day, but is still pretty sharp upstairs in his wheelhouse.

The first time I waited on him, about two years ago, I of course struck up a conversation with him.

 (DUH)

  He can be hard to understand sometimes and when he is, you just need to give a non descript answer to a mumbling comment, and hope it was the right one.

Trust me, if he has to repeat himself, he will.

My first  real conversation with him went something like this, after taking his credit card and learning his first name was Michael.

"Do you ever watch TV? Because you remind me of a character on Breaking Bad."

His answer:

"Yeah, I've seen it."

My response:

"You look like Mike Ehrmantraut."

He actually chuckled at that one.

(but he does)

He rolls up from the VA (right down the street) a couple of times a week to eat lunch with us or have a drink or two.

I've had more than one customer come up to me inside of the restauarant and want to pay the tab for him. I usually always tell them his name and encourage them to stop by his table on the way out and speak to him.

He doesn't manuever well inside of the restaurant so he always pulls up to an outside table on the patio, where we can  pull the plants apart so he can squeeze in and up to a table for lunch.

Bless his heart, he can make a huge mess when he eats. His one working arm isn't all that great, only has the use of one eye and no use of either of his legs or feet.

I have tremendous respect (and gratitude) for his man, and his service to this country. I wouldn't wish serving in the Vietnam war on my worst enemy.

Today he came in for lunch.

He wheeled onto the patio and his server took his order.

We were kinda getting a little busy and I hadn't had time to go out and speak to him yet, but as I stood at the service bar waiting on drinks for one of my own tables, I witnessed this out the window... he was cutting up the food so it would be easier for him to eat.

My respect for this server shot through the roof.

It was one of those moments cell phones were meant to capture.

Once I got caught up, I wandered outside to say 'hey'.

As always, I came up from behind him and said "How ya doin today, Ole Man?"

He was backing away from the table, with spaghetti noodles all over his tennis shoes , foot rest and ground all around him. 

He slowly shook his head and said "I've made a mess today."

I immediately said,  "If you didn't make a mess, I wouldn't have a job. Just hang on a minute and let me get a broom and dustpan and we'll get you and your chair all cleaned up."

And I did.

I was a little hesitant when I first met him, about cleaning him up after a meal. I didn't want him to be humiliated or feel embarrassed.

But after two years of chatting at least once a week with him and slowly getting to know him, I do it...or offer to, every single time.

That's the least I can do for a man who fought for his country and  fought for my family. 

I salute him...and Thank him.

Sometimes when he comes in I'll pay for his food myself. No biggie, I get a 50% discount. Sometimes my manager will pay for it (she's awesome) but more often than not, a random customer offers to do it.

This makes me feel a bit better about this crazy world we live in today.

Do something nice for a random person. Trust me, it will make you feel better than it does them.

Til next time, COTTON