The Christmas Spirit Does Exist
We went out to dinner last night to Bob Evans and some for some reason, most of our trips there are events in themselves; however, this time our experience was very different. When we arrived, we had to wait a few minutes. The restaurant wasn’t busy really – it’s just hard to fit a party of six with small children away from the smoking section there (which should be remedied on December 7th). We did get seated soon afterwards. While our server was setting the table, the butter knife fell out of the napkin wrap and landed right on my thumb in mid-air. It did hurt a bit but I guess I’ll live. Ordering went fine as did the traditional coloring of the placemats.
When the food arrived, our server accidentally spilled one of the trays sending sauces, syrup, and Abigail’s pancakes to the floor. It wasn’t a particularly pretty sight. The other food was safe although Ben’s food hadn’t made it out of the kitchen yet. I had to send mine back because there were onions cooked into it. Even after Abi and I finally got our meals, Ben’s food hadn’t come out yet. The server and manager kept saying it would be a few minutes. Ben did finally get his food after a long wait and ate most of it though he’d filled up on some grapes the server offered. The server said that his meal wouldn’t be on the bill which is what I was going to expect they do at the least. However, something else happened that we did not expect in the slightest.
When it was time for the server to come back with our bill, she told us that the gentleman who was sitting at a table across the way from us had taken care of our bill. We were definitely surprised at this. We looked to see who had done this for us, but he had already left. He certainly didn’t have to as we had enough money with us and were planning to use a free kid’s meal coupon that Jacob got for his birthday. I’m not sure why this guy did this for us, but I’m genuinely touched by it. I’ve seen the Christmas spirit on television and movies but I don’t believe I’ve witnessed it in real life. I’m sure I cannot compare the circumstances between this unforunate dinner and A Christmas Carol but this was a genuinely very nice thing that this man did for no reason, especially when our meals aren’t too inexpensive with the six of us.
Indeed, I am moved.
