Random Acts of Kindness

So tonight I went out to Applebees with my sister. This is a relatively often occurrence (a few times a month) which we partake in generally after 10pm when they have their "late-night" specials. Hostess came over and sat us down by the window, but it was really cold so we asked the waitress if we could move when she came over. She didn't have a problem with it, except that she claimed we'd no longer be at one of her tables. We moved anyway, although I think we both felt a bit bad. It didn't matter though as a few minutes later she appeared at our new table perhaps after telling her boss of the situation. As we were to find out, we were the third group who had moved from that area because of it being so cold.

So putting in our order my sister and I being from the same family have to add all these quantifiers to our meal. No ice in the drinks, lemons on the side, extra this, none of that, etc. Noticing the waitress not taking notes (and my sister currently working as one) she suggested to our waitress ("Michele") she not just try and remember it. Michele laughed although seemingly nervously and told us now that we commented on her not using a pad that she would indeed forget unless she wrote it all down. We repeated the order and she went on her way. Now tonight was not much different than any other except maybe that we decided to get three appetizers instead of two (because we can both eat a lot when we want to despite observations to the contrary).

As often is the case when we get together, the topic of money comes up. How work was going for my sister (she likes it!) to how much money she is in debt (a lot). Specifically something that I would recall later on though was that she had worked a double shift on Saturday (~12 hours) and not done too well money-wise. Days eb and flow I'm sure, but she sounded disappointed at working such a key day and not making very much cash.

Skip to the end of the meal. The check comes and it's a robust $18.31. My sister puts in $10 and I leave $12. A decent tip for such a small meal I felt. As we're still sitting there sipping our sodas, my sister starts playing around with her extra cash. She grabs my singles on the table and throws another $10 in. I was a little surprised but didn't really say anything. We eventually left and I had to ask her why she gave the extra money. All she said to me was "It looked like she was having a bad day".

Just last week in fact I met a few people that were telling me how great my sister was and just general good things to say. It's not that I didn't believe these things were true, but my perspective is totally different. I tend too often I think to concentrate on negative aspects of things; especially with people. Anyway earlier tonight I was so glad to be my sisters brother.

sermotion:proud