Mostly Brave

“Be kind to unkind people, they need it the most.” Ashleigh Brilliant

Sunday after church, Bryan and I decided to go to Cracker Barrel. We were sat after 20 minutes of waiting. I can be a little like Sally, from When Harry Met Sally, when I order.  “Can I have this on the side?  Can I have that on the side?” When I was a waitress I would have probably felt annoyed if there were too many “on the sides.” I get it!

So, our waitress took our order and she was a no-nonsense kind of girl, but my order wasn’t too difficult.  I asked if there could be no marshmallow put on the sweet potato, extra ice in my drink, and some A1 sauce with my chicken.  The waitress started to walk away from the table after she delivered our drinks, but there was hardly any ice. I asked if I could have an extra glass of ice, and then our no-nonsense waitress threw me a look like, “Girl, you need to back up off that ice.”

After she came back to the table she not only brought me the extra glass of ice, which I greatly appreciated, but she also brought me some icy vibes that were geared toward me and not Bryan. If Bryan asked for something, she was as kind as I think this girl knew how to be, but when I said anything, even thanks so much, she looked at me like, “I didn’t ask you to say anything.”

Waiting tables in college was a real nightmare for me. You would not have wanted me to be your server. I could make you laugh, but would you get your food on time? Probably not. If you ordered chicken parmesan, and I accidentally gave you veal parmesan, would I tell you? No, probably not. Being a bad waitress had nothing to do with laziness, or not caring, but had everything to do with me not being able to keep orders straight, forgetting to put orders in, and pretty much racing around with no real direction.  So, I have always said that I won’t fault a waitress if she is bad, but I will if she is rude.

 Meanwhile, I was envisioning our friendly waitress, back in the kitchen, spitting all over my food. This was my conversation with Bryan:

Me: You know how someone rubs you the wrong way and you just feel on edge the rest of the day?

Bryan: Yes.

Me: I mean I have to tell ya, I just want to throat punch that girl!

Bryan: Lisa, we need to be Jesus to that girl.

Bryan wasn’t saying this in a pious way, but he was telling the truth in a sarcastic way, and for that I could respect the advice. A little sarcasm, as long as it’s not hurtful, goes a long way with me.

Was I mean back to our waitress? No.  Did I turn her into her manager? No. Would I leave her a tip? Yes. Would I leave her 20%? Probably, but not because I was asking, “What would Jesus do?” It was more like feeling I needed to pay a penance for my wanting to throat punch the girl.  Either way, she received a decent tip and a smile, and I think Jesus would have given me a nod of approval for that. 😊