Today I had alady named Mary that found it in her heart to pay a tab for one of our guests that was dining alone. The lone diner was very appreciative and happy to have recevied this act of kindness. It was a no brainer for me today to pick Mary as my random act. I gave her a gift certificate for her next visit, and a RAK GC to pass along in the community. She was very impressed with the fact that we do random acts every week. i am sure that she willl pay it forward.
Heart to heart
This evening when I was coming onto my shift, Rich approached me with a situation at his table. He told me that he had a young gentleman who had just undergone 5 heart surgeries after a complication with his 24th heart surgery. Yes… 24th heart surgery. He had spent an extended period of time in the hospital and was just realeased today. Before he made it home, he wanted to stop by T-bones for his favorite meal, teri tips. His doctor had even given him medicine to take on the way there, so he would be able to make the stop before he returned home. Rich made a great call to RAK the table. The customer was touched, and very thankful to have a great server.
Lounge RAK
Tonight Jamie was working in the lounge, and saw two familiar faces. Trisha and Jack are regulars, and are caring, understanding, and as Jamie quotes “the ideal guests”. Tonight the couple arrived with handmade presents for the staff, after they handed out the gifts, Trisha informed her of some unfortunate news. She told Jamie that she had been diagnosed with both Kidney and Esophagus Cancer and will be undergoing chemo and radiation in the coming months and will likely not be returning for a minimum of 6 months. Jamie approached me and asked if we could RAK them in hopes to see them both coming back healthy and happy. They were in tears by the time they were leaving and promised to come see us soon.
job shadow rak
So today I had a job shadow with a student from Pinkerton Academy. She was sitting with me logging the PFG order when she noticed an older woman sitting alone and felt for this lady. I told her she could go over and ask her if she wanted to join her for dessert and offer her something sweet. She was super apprehensive and nervous about how to go about it so despite my RAK this week already, I told her about our program and allowed her to approach with the RAK instead of alone without purpose. She was Mic’d up with me during the day so I encouraged her along the way as she finally walked over (I was watching on the camera) and sat down!! Amber, her server, came over and said the woman was beaming with happiness over someone to share her time. 40!!!! minutes later the student asked me to come over to the table and the woman told me how they had been talking…talking about how the world goes round, how the world is different now and how she can learn to live in it. She had woke up that day asking God for someone to share that with and here she was spending this time with this lovely young lady and how happy it made her. When she asked me for her server to bring the check I realized the student hadn’t even told her that part yet and let her know what we were doing for her and it just made the whole experience even more valuable. She thanked me and gave me some advice of my own as the young lady was actually my daughter 🙂 It was really awesome to watch it unfold and see how happy it made both people. Proud mama moment right here.
How can you RAK this family enough
**Warning** You may want to have tissues Most people have felt the loss cancer can bring in some varying form. The onset can be the scariest part….not knowing if your prognosis is correct, not knowing if you will see your children grow up, or if you will grow old with your spouse. I can’t imagine experiencing it on a first person level. I have only experienced the scare as it plagued my mother and father but both survived with aggressive surgeries and minimal long term effects. When Jessica approached me and shared she was just in a conversation with a guest about his families troubles, I couldn’t not react in some way to say we care deeply for your family and this most difficult time- what can we do… This gentlemen was dining with his wife. She was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer. She is thankfully expected to live but you can see the cancer has taken the liveliness from her. What can be more heartbreaking than seeing your wife suffer through treatment? Your daughter being diagnosed a day apart with Stage 4 and not expected to make it. While the mother is suffering through her battle she and her husband have taken her daughter in with her kids and husband who is a marine and not home at all times. (I believe he is expected to take leave soon to be home through the next stages). The daughter is unable to eat, nor wishes to eat anything other than Mashed Potatoes preferably from here so we bought her all the mashed potatoes she will ever want. We took care of the couples tab and shared a card for them to give to their daughter with GCs in it attached to a note to recieve all the Mashed potatoes her heart desires. There is not a random act of kindness big enough to take the worry and pain away from this family but as they were leaving and sought me out to thank me, I knew that small guesture was greatly appreciated and when the mother smiled just a little bit with the sign of tears in her eyes I was grateful for the rush of a busy shift.