Lisa Tamburino told me a story about how you really never know what people are struggling with... and the impact your kindness can have. Lisa is a waitress at a restaurant in Naperville, Illinois, and got in the festive spirit of the holidays be donning an elf costume on Christmas Day.
"While I was serving my tables, a gentleman from another part of the restaurant wanted to randomly pick out a table and buy that table their meal. That table happened to be one of my tables and when the couple I was serving found out that someone had bought their meal, they called me over and were very appreciative. They wanted to pay it forward and told me to then give them the check from my other table where a man and his two little girls were having their Christmas breakfast.
"I thought it was a wonderful gesture and respected their wishes and waited until they were gone to surprise the gentleman and his two little girls. I let him know that he did not have a check for his meal. He looked at me like I just gave him a million dollars. I told him a couple that was sitting at the booth by the window bought their breakfast and he questioned why. I told him it was a couple that just wanted to pay it forward.
"His eyes starting tearing up and he told me that he had lost his business, his house and that he could barely afford to take his girls out to breakfast. I started to tear up, seeing what this gesture meant to him. After listening to the struggles he was having, I told him not to leave me a gratuity of any kind. I wanted him to walk out of the restaurant without pulling a dime out of his pocket and I gave his two little girls the Andes Candies box I had in my apron. We had a long conversation and as they were leaving, the older of the two girls got up and hugged me. It completely touched my heart."
