In the Larger Scheme of Things
by Mary Jane
Mapes
Have you ever noticed how sometimes the simplest thing becomes an integral
part of a much larger plan?
Going to breakfast after church on Sunday has become a ritual. Since my
husband Bill decided at age 51 to attend law school on the weekends while still working a
full time job, Sunday mornings are reserved as precious time for us to connect. Normally,
caught up in conversation, we're oblivious to what's going on around us. But not the
morning we were to play an instrumental part in a father's lesson to his children.
Sitting across the aisle from us was a young couple with four small
children, the oldest probably not more than seven years old. Although the children were
not wearing Gap jumpers, Guess jeans or Nike tennis shoes, they were clean, and neatly
pressed. We had just finished our last cup of coffee, when the server arrived at their
table, balancing on her right hand and shoulder a large tray with plates of pancakes and
hot syrup and bacon and eggs. She carefully unloaded the tray, plate by plate. Just as she
reached for the next to the last plate on the tray, she lost control of the tray and
dumped hot syrup and fried eggs, down the back of the young mother who was wearing a fuzzy
wool jacket. The hot syrup saturated the jacket and dripped down the back of her chair,
forming a large puddle on the carpeting.
With complete calm, the woman slipped out of her jacket, letting it rest
over the back of her chair. She picked up her baby from the high chair, and headed to the
restroom while the server went to find the manager. Meanwhile the father sat with the
other three children and spoke softly to them.
It took the manager five minutes to respond…much too long, we felt,
given the circumstances. She arrived carrying a handful of large paper napkins that she
used in an attempt to soak up the syrup on the carpet. She removed the jacket from the
chair and placed it on a table behind them. With a napkin she took from another table, she
wiped the back of the woman's dripping chair.
When the mother returned with her baby, she requested a clean chair. The chair exchange
made, the manager disappeared. Bill and I were betting that the manager would pick up
their tab and pay to have the woman's jacket cleaned. It was the least they could do given
the calamity caused by the server.
The manager re-entered the scene, carrying a large plastic bag into which
she dropped the woman's jacket and handed the bag to the woman's husband.
"Someone will pay for this to be dry cleaned, won't they?" he asked.
"Well, I don't know where you get your clothes dry cleaned," the manager whined.
"If you'd like, you can get it cleaned yourself and I can adjust your bill to cover
the cost of dry cleaning."
We were incredulous! There stood the manager with their bill in her hand,
combing through it item by item, "Let's see. That's four juices at $1.25 a
piece....," subtacting until she reached the $10 she felt it would cost for the dry
cleaning.
My husband leaned across the table and whispered, "I'd like to offer
them 20 bucks and the price of breakfast for their story."
"Go for it," I encouraged. "Somebody ought to do something for them."
On our way out, Bill walked to their table, told the man that I was a
professional speaker, and that we'd like to pay $20 and the price of breakfast for their
story. A strange look came over the man's face, then broadened into a smile. "Why,
sir," he said, "this is so amazing! I was just telling my daughter, 'Regardless
of what happens, if you just remember who you are and respond from a place of love, good
things will come to you.' And here you are offering to buy our breakfast and give us $20
for the story. Thank you, Sir, for your kindness! You just helped me teach a very
important lesson to my children."
©Copyright 1999-2006 Mary Jane Mapes All rights reserved.
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