Ms. JoAnne Wants World Peace

Tonight as I gazed upon the stars in my companionless attempt of my own harmony; I cried. I cried like a infant does when it's overtired and can't find relief in sleep. Saturday I drove 3 hours to Lufkin, Tx to do a beer tasting for Sam Adams. That morning I came in heat. I worked the three hours at the first location 12 to 3. I was not notified that my second location time had changed from its first scheduling for 3pm to 3:30pm. So I worked with what I had. My day consisted of driving the three hours to Lufkin; working 3hrs on my feet with no sitting priveledges from 12-3. Did I mention in heels? That was part of my uniform. Then working 3-6 at the second location, in heels, with no sitting priveledges. To my fortune the first location was so slow, not many clients were coming through. I took it upon myself to leave 30 minutes early, taking my time gathering my things and clearing with the locations manager. My back was killing me, my feet hated me and I had no midol. Ladies, I'm sure you can understand the torture I was going through. I stopped at a small depot called 'Lufkin BBQ' right next to my second location on Chestnut St. I sat in a booth worn out with a glisten of fresh perspiration veiling my face from the 3.4 seconds of humid heat I was exposed to from my car to the depot door. An older woman, about early to mid-50's, greeted me as my server and asked what I'd be having to drink. The seemingly cheerful and kind woman wrote down my answer of Dr. Pepper as she smiled and introduced herself as JoAnne. She scuttled off and I made a phone call home to check and see how my grandfather was doing, feeling, and letting him know how handsome he was that day. Joanne returned and politely sat my drink and straw infront of me along with two of the best biscuits I ever ate and scuttled off again giving me privacy and I suppose time to look at the menu. I ended my conversation on the phone with love and best regards and the thumbs up for a phone call any time of day or night, and begin to butter a biscuit. In no rush I sat trying to have a minute of rest and enjoyment during my time of uncomfort and finish my biscuit and sipped on my Dr. Pepper and never looked at the menu. JoAnne returns, "Are you ready to order ma'am?" I look at her and say "JoAnne, I'm going to spend no more than $7 here today, including tip. Rather you give me brilliant service or not I'm leaving $7 on this table because that's all I have with me. So with that being said I'll take whatever that will buy me and you can keep whatever's left." Now I'm no one to be shabby on a tip. If you give me good service, I'll leave a $20 tip, permitting it's in my budget of course. However I was short on cash, and had just filled up my gas tank and not depositted my checks in my bank account. So I was honest and not embarrassed. She brought me a sliced beef sandwhich with pickles and all the trimmings, a refill on my drink, and more biscuits in my basket. Just as genuine as anyone could be she smiled and small chatted on my business in Lufkin and then departed from my table. I finished eating one biscuit and like always, half the sandwhich then just ate the rest of the inside leaving the other half of bread to the side. I signaled JoAnne and asked for my bill and she replied with, "I took care of it." I disagreed of course and told her how thoughtful yet unneccisary it was and refused. She didn't back down and told me to pay it forward. I nearly froze in awe to that sentence. I thanked her a million times and stacked my plate and silverware just to be nice and left for my next location. The next 3 hours went by smoothly, there weren't many clients coming in and I just sat there and thought of Ms. JoAnne. I was s happy that I found another person in the world actively in the pursuit of world peace. <3 Before driving the three hours back home I stopped at an O'reilly's auto parts store to get some glass wipes to clean my inside windshield that I had accidently gotten armoral on while cleaning it the day before and saw a little boy. He was barefoot with his monster truck stick on tattoos and uneven ear to ear grin as he drooled over the hot wheels car toys. He asked his parents, who were buying quite a bit of money's worth of auto parts, if he could get one. I suppose they were his parents, and as his mother looked at his father I heard him say in his head that he hadn't enough money to spare from all the parts he was purchasing to fix their car. She turned her attention back to the little boy answering with a "No." There was a little red, two seater, convertible Hot Wheel for sale for $1.99 and I replayed the moment I saw that little boy in my head. I had just pulled up, tired, worn out from the day, dreading the three hour drive back home and exited my red, two seater, convertible sports car. He stood there staring at my car like it was a Lamborghini or Corvette, and it made me feel good. I grabbed that toy, let the cashier scan it, bought my wipes, grabbed my bag and approached the little boy and handed him that little car. He declared his gratitude and I told him to pay it forward, when you're nice to others, then others would be nice to you, and I left. Forget that I was crying earlier? I was crying because I was so happy that I get the opportunity to meet people like that all the time and only wished I could be as good hearted. Buenos Noches my Little Chickens. Till I feed you another day. =) </body></p></p>