The other day at our downtown bistro, the Main Street Cafe, one of our employees, we'll call him "Evan" since that's his name ;-)
Evan noticed that a woman put a $20 bill in the tip jar by the register. On his own, he took the Andrew Jackson to the table where the guest was dining and asked if she'd intended to put that much money in the jar. She hadn't. She thanked him and put in a more appropriate tip.
The next day the same guest came in and asked for Evan. In his absence she asked for the manager. She told Sandra the story of what had happened the day before. It turns out that upon further review, she was so impressed that she wanted him to have the $20.
She was so marked by that simple act of integrity that she came back.
She tracked him down.
She brought him the $20.
When Sandra told Evan the story and gave him the money, he refused to take it, insisting that it go toward everyone's tips that day. Sandra insisted he take it, because it was our guest's wishes.
If Evan reads this I'm sure he'll be embarrassed of this account, wishing I'd not captured it. That's how integrity works: people doing the right thing don't think in terms of reward or attention.
I don't write this for Evan. I write this for all of us. We hear enough negative local and national news stories. We need to hear the good stories. Good stories are hard to gather, usually because people who do good things aren't doing them for an audience.
So here's to doing the right thing.
Here's to appreciating that this kind of person is part of our great and cherished staff.
Here's to making the planet great, one selfless act at a time.
Main Street Cafe: More Than Coffee.
