At the end of a wonderfully craptastic week I decided that I didn’t want to cook. Actually the menu (not that one over there <———) said we were to have shrimp fried rice and I didn’t have leftover rice nor shrimp. I visited with Cindy on the phone and then the trusty husband comes into my office asking what we should do about dinner. His suggestions was our local Thai restaurant. Normally Thai food sounds good, but with a week of digestive blickyness I thought better of a spicy panang curry. Thus began a 30 minute stare down as to what we should do.
The trusty husband started looking in the refrigerator and pantry for possible dinner fixins. I did the shopping this week and I knew full well there was nothing. Or at least nothing defrosted enough to eat within the following 3 hours. This meant I needed to put on my public pants and figure out where to go. The first thought was the Adriatic Grill. But after reading reviews online I wasn’t in the mood for locally owned yet large restaurant chain type food. The Hub was the second choice, but pizza and pasta are certainly not on the gluten free diet.
Derek suggested Jake’s Bar and Bistro. A quick call discovered an up to 40 minute wait and no list we could put our names on. 40 minutes isn’t bad on a Friday night at 6:00, but we have a kid and needed instant gratification. Our list of possible restaurants narrowed and we bit the bullet and went to Jake’s.
We found out that it was supposed to be about a 10 minute wait by the time we got there, but one thing led to another and we waited for around 30 minutes. They were very attentive and got Derek a beer from one of their 42 on tap right away. The boy sat quietly and we watched the goings on.
The food was decent and we didn’t have to wait long for it. It could have been seasoned a little better, but I rather enjoyed the shrimp I ordered. Derek said the pasta was OK, and the asparagus was horribly over cooked. Either way, we’d go back.
The best part of the evening happened when the waiter came over and asked if we noticed the couple sitting at the table next to us. I had not as I have the attention span of a cricket and neither of them were wearing spectacular shoes. Derek said he noticed, but what was the big deal. Evidently the boy reminded the man of his grandson whom he missed. And with that the waiter said that couple bought us our dinner. The whole thing. Beers and all. Some random strangers bought our family dinner. I am still flabbergasted over the exchange. The waiter didn’t know the man, but Jake may have. Sadly, Jake was very busy when we left so we didn’t get to talk to him.
To the random couple at Jake’s Bar & Bistro tonight, thank you. You brightened one womans very hard week.
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12 Responses to “The kindness of strangers”
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That’s two acts of random kindness for you! What about the guy that bought you the beautiful bouquet at Pikes St. market? That was the coolest thing ever as he walked away without giving it a second thought. Way too cool! Most people are thoughtful and kind, we just seem to only remember the uglies!
Wow! How cool!
very cool indeed
Holy cow. That’s awesome.
Story of my own… once I had a tire blow on the highway and, after cursing myself for never learning how to change a tire, I called my dad and waited for him to get there. As I was waiting, this guy just pulled over, changed my tire, and drove away accepting nothing but a thank you. It was so sweet of him.
now you know Elle you have to pass this on…and we expect to hear about it…not buy someone a meal randomly but pay is forward somehow…how cool
That’s so nice. What a great way to start the weekend?!
Can I borrow your kid next time we got to the Lobster Pot? haha.
Like having your toll paid, only much, much cooler.
Awww ….
How nice!
That is so cool. DebiP is right, you need to pay it forward someday.
This happened to a group of us in high school when we went out to dinner for homecoming. There were probably 5 couples and the dude paid for all of us!!!
I cant wait till i’m flush & buying random people dinner. I did buy a random guy a gallon of gas yesterday, does that count?