So there i was, making my way through the McDonald's drive thru. Ordering up a standard lunch and making my way to the pay window. Upon arriving i wait for the cashier to tell me my total again. Instead she said the person in front of me paid for it. Wait what? WTF? So i look at the car in front of me at the pick-up window. Some car ive never seen, some older woman i dont recognize. She simply looks into the rear view mirror, waves and drives away. Never to be heard from again. Well then, thats 7 bucks i dont have to spend. Works for me.
Pretty cool right? I mean who doesnt like free Big Macs? "did you know her" the cashier asks. Nope. Random act of kindness maybe? Well now a few years later, i dont so much remember the act of kindness, more so the shock factor. Kinda funny when you think about it. The look on my face when the cashier said some random person paid my bill. First thought was it was an accident. It wasnt.
That act sends me back to post 9/11. My Army unit was rotating guys for airport security. 4 of us grabbing some chow at one of the sit-down restaurants. This was common for most of us. The usual table talk of who didnt want to take off their shoes or threatened to hold us responsible for missing their flight. LOL really? Im the one with the gun...take off your shoes. Off in the distance a traveler is complaining about why they have to pay a fee to get a different flight because the soldier caused them to miss the flight. The airline rep simply responds by saying "next time take your shoes off the FIRST time he asks you". Anyway, one night as we are waiting for our bill, putting our cash in the middle counting it up, the waiter comes by and lets us know that the table across the way picked up our check. He came over, shook our hands, and said thank you.
So im at Chilis the other night having dinner. Across the aisle is very young couple (probably high school) coming in for dinner. I couldnt help but notice several things. They sat together on the same side of the booth. I can't remember the last time i did that. A woman might look at that and call it cute. Watching them was quite easy as they were directly under the TV with football on. When their appetizer showed up (half order of texas cheese fries), the boy made a point to eat his with a fork. Seriously? Talk about putting on the prim and proper face huh? I then noticed they were both drinking water. Hmmm. Must be low on cash so they are doing the 2 for 20 dinner deal. As i stalked them some more it was obviously not a first date. The high school puppy love vibe was quite apparent. Going on a date back then at that age was exciting, not like today for us slightly older people. All of a sudden i had the sudden urge and desire to pay for their meal. So thinking it might be fun i asked my server to bring their check as it was at that moment. They can pay for their own dessert. Server asked if i was going to say anything to them. Why would I? So im pretty sure the server told them everything after I left. Was i trying to be nice? Nah. Random act of kindness? Nah, but you can think so. Now if they didnt leave a tip then the server got screwed. On the way out I was reminded of the McDonald's drive-thru. Kind of hard not to, its right next door. I did it for the shock and awe value that i will never see. But as i pulled out of the parking lot i was left to ponder a few things. How would they view the action taken? Would it make a lasting impression of anykind? And last but certainly not least..........
What if in reality I hate their parents?
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