Honesty is a Beautiful Thing
Wednesday, August 20th, 2003 at 2:08 am · 10 views
Two weeks ago, right before my vacation I headed on down to the cafeteria in the building where my job is located during my morning break. My break is at 11am and my lunch is at 1pm… they stop serving lunch at 1:15 so I always feel forced to rush down to the cafeteria at 11am to grab my lunch. A couple of times since I have been at my current job, I was not able to get off the phone until after 1:15 and I missed out on lunch *sigh* I digress…
I was down in the cafeteria and the indecisive part of me could not figure out what to eat. Caesar salad…ummm no…stale fried chicken…hell to the naw…something from the grill…eh maybe. I walked up to the grill line and immediately glanced down at the crisp Ulysses folded in half. In that split second I wished it was mine… but I immediately asked Corey (one of the gentlemen who be hooking up my croissant, egg and cheese in the mornings!) who had just left the area. No one was near by at all… Corey said why? I lifted up the fifty dollar bill and gave him the mmmhmm lips. He said whoa.. umm some guy…and he then looked puzzled as he glanced over the cafeteria in search of the gentleman. I quickly walked over to the register and asked a gentleman in line if he had just lost any money. He replied no. I walked back to the grill and asked Corey again if he knew who the guy was. I guess by this time he remembered and Corey began describing the guy. I handed the fifty to Corey and asked him to make sure that the gentleman gets ahold of his money. I purchased my lunch and carried on with my day.
A week went by and I was on my vacation…
Fast forward to Monday (two days ago). During my (almost) daily routine, I went down to the cafeteria in search of something edible and tasty. Corey came up behind me and startled me a bit, but not enough that I shook all over and had that startled look lol… Corey said that the gentleman whose money I found wanted to buy me lunch (as gratification). The news, immediately sent a positive oh really feel throughout my body and I released a big grin. Corey then took my name and other contact information down on paper.
Yesterday, while down in the cafeteria, I hear someone saying, “hey lil mama” lmao.. I knew it was Corey… “Go down to the register all the way on the right when they ring you up and that guy is gonna pay for whatever you want for lunch,” said Corey.
The first thing that came to mind was, “Well where is the gentleman at? I don’t even get to meet him?”
Corey replied, “Aww man… lemme see…” Then he left the grilling area in search of someone.
I could not decide on what I really wanted to eat and as I left the fried chicken line with a breast that looked somewhat tasty I see an AF officer standing next to Corey. I started walking up to him so I could shake hand but he had this I am in a rush feeling about him. He thanked me and I said “you’re welcome” then he said “lunch is on me,” but I did not get to shake his hand. I was happy but a tad disappointed.
I turned around to grab a wheat roll and two containers of Promise butter and as I turned back around, the officer was there again. He thanked me again and as I came forward he gave me a very firm handshake and I said “you’re welcome” again.
“Get yourself some dessert, lunch is on me,” he stated, then smiled and walked away.
Everything was cool in my book now… it was like the handshake made the transaction complete. A firm handshake makes me feel more confident about a person. I really do not care for the frail handshakes… I tend to view those people as weak for some reason.
Honesty is a beautiful thing. I try to place myself in situations like that. If I lost money I would hope that someone would turn it in…so I do the same in a reversed situation.
