There is this Taco bell I hit fairly often on my way back home from bars. I went there the last two days and it amazed me how short the line was for a Friday and Saturday. Both times the same guy was working the window. I’d guess about 18 and he was working his ass off. He was taking the orders, working the window and, helping make food all at the same time. But still he was cheerful dealing with all of the moron drunks at the window, I’ve been to many fast food places, but this guy really impressed me with how well he did his job, which isn’t a job most people take seriously enough to give the effort to do well, but he was efficient and cheerful.
It makes me wish I was a powerful executive who could take a guy like that and put him on to the track he deserves. ‘Change his life’ is kind of melodramatic I guess, since for all I know he could be heading off to Harvard next year, but it would be really damn cool to have the position to reward a guy like that.
I think we change people’s lives everyday - sometimes, it’s not the big things that we do, it’s the little everyday kindnesses that leave the biggest impression.
Would you rather have a one-day only way to change someone’s life, or would you rather treat someone beautifully everyday and let that perpetual goodness sink in?
I’m not sure that I can phrase this the way I’d like to. Perhaps I’ll clarify when I’m more awake.
Good for you, SUPERKARLENE, good point. I think your view is better than Peanuthead’s, in that life and helping others to improve themselves isn’t just about “karma”, but about actrively going about what we can do in our community.
Let things just simply “be”, along the lines of preordination or “someone will notice, someone will come along”, is like waiting for that little ball to bounce the right way on the roulette wheel.
SUPERKARLENE has a good point, and I think it reflects on wolfman’s post. This kid at Taco Bell is doing what he can to stay happy, and in effect, it makes wolfman want to do good stuff. It’s a nice thought, too bad it doesn’t happen more often.
You can tell him how impressed you are, and see if you can track down his manager and tell that person too.
It might not make a huge difference in his career, but it will sure mean a lot to him on a personal level.
You can also call 1-800-Taco-Bell and let them know.
A related personal story. When I was in my late teens I too was working drive through at a TB. I was a “happy person” there always friendly to the customers (well all but that car of “christian teens” who always told me because I was Jewish I was going to go to hell because I didn’t beleive in Christ) I was like that because my motto was (and still is) you never know who you will meet. Well a few years later I was working at another place, and applied to change departments. The person who was in charge of the department I wanted to go to was someone I had served occasionaly back then and he rememberd me.
I would change the life of the file clerk at our work. She is a super nice lady with two young boys and some slob of an ex-husband who does not pay child support. I’d add $40,000 to her jpay every year, so she could get out of public housing and get a little place of her own.
I have a friend who has had a very, very hard life. I’m talkin bad. For quite a bit of her adult life she has been homeless, she has lost one child (and another child was taken from her), she’s been repeatedly raped, etc. She got on drugs for a while but got off of them, and now she lives in public housing now and does a good job of making it nice. She’s got her life back on track and she’s a wonderful person and a good friend to me.
If I had the money, I would take her house shopping.
