I’m having one of those days where I’m not really with it. Like when you’re listening to happy upbeat songs to try and convince yourself you’re not sad and then you’re just sat there listening like “hmm, yes, this sure is music I’m listening to.”

I’m at work. Everyone else seems to be busy, but not many orders have come through for my section of the kitchen. The line manager asks me for a little plate with some cucumber on it, so I put four slices of cucumber on a plate.

Usually this would mean I’ve missed something on the screen, so I look for the kids meal to double check if it specified no tomatoes or if the line manager forgot to ask for them. But no, the customer literally just wants a plate of cucumber.

Four slices of cucumber on even a little plate looked sad, so I added some more and arranged them into a smiley face. As I was debating the very serious issue of whether or not I should add some of the chipped slices as eyebrows (I did) my coworker notices the plate and finds it hilarious.

We send down that smiley cucumber face with some other orders. I hope it made someone’s day a little brighter.

I work at a University and the semester is just starting. A new student taking the basic course in my field writes to several of the teachers that he can’t come to a mandatory exercise. Once they find out he is in my group, the send the message to me, it goes something like this:

“Hi I’m [student] and I can’t come to the mandatory exercise this week. The reason is I got an internship in another city this summer, which is very important to me, and it got prolonged into the semester. Could I get a home assignment instead?

Kind Regards
[Student]”

We actually have a solution for this, if people are sick or if they for another reason aren’t able to come, so I reply him, and we have the following conversation.

Me: Hello [student], I’ll note down you won’t make it and make sure you’re assigned in one of the groups. Then it is extra important that you come for the exercise next week, so we can see you are accustomed to the software.

The other exercise is not mandatory, however it is an alternative for those missing the first one for valid reasons.

Student: The thing is, I won’t be able to make it next week either, I’ll not be in town during the first three weeks, and even if I could go there for one day it would be so expensive.

At this point I am wondering how he expected to handle a full time course while being gone for three weeks, since they will be divided into groups and get home assignments, he would miss that deadline too. Nevertheless, I double check with the principal to see if he should get another assignment instead, however this is only done in very special cases, as it means more work for us. In this instance, the Principal ruled that working at a firm is not a good enough reason to miss it. Furthermore, since he will be gone, he should be there the first time to connect with his group so they can keep contact on a distance.

So I write back to him.

Me: Hello again, I’ve double checked, and unfortunately your work does not constitute as a good enough reason to miss it. You will also get an assignment at the end of the week, and since you are away it will be important to connect with your group, which is why you’ll need to be there at the mandatory exercise this week.

Student: Alright, I understand. I’ll come to the one next week.

I literally face palmed reading this, but at this point I’m not sure it is worth it to argue at this point (and I understand it might be difficult to get tickets on short notice). It is not my job to make sure he handles his studies, however I do hope his group lets us know if he doesn’t do the work.

My family lives in Alaska. When my mom was pregnant with me, my dad had a scheduled hunting trip with his buddies. It was supposed to take place after my mom’s due date. Her own mom was supposed to come and help while he was away.

Well, I decided to be fashionably late, and circumstances conspired against my grandma’s arrival on time. Mom went to 40 weeks, then 41 weeks, and was soon closing in on 42 weeks. Dad wasn’t pleased, because where we live, that hunting trip wasn’t just hanging out with ‘the guys.’ It was important because the game they were going to catch was meant to supply us with meat for the winters we got around there.

Obviously, he didn’t blame mom. It just worried and upset him that I was late. It worried and upset him because hunting was also a necessity. And it worried and upset him that my grandma wasn’t going to be able to help his wife if he was gone. It was just one big ball of overall stress.

The guys told Dad to stay home, and dad stayed because knew where he was supposed to be.

Ten days or so later his buddies came home.

Dad’s best friend showed the moose he had bagged, “Look at what I got!”

Dad then brought me out with a huge papa grin, “And look at what I got!”

The guys made the appropriate fuss, then dropped the surprise: they had hunted FOR us. Not only had they bagged game for their own families but also hooked up our own little family with meat from their trip.

The guys and dad spent guy-time together, preparing the meat for storage, packing it up, and occasionally popping a head indoors to check on mom. A few were fathers themselves and helped out to do little things for her around the house while the others worked. This let dad let off steam preparing food for his family, while also giving mom the break she needed.

To this day, those guys are like my uncles, and they and my dad are tighter than thieves.

Our store is currently running a simple prize drawing; The prize is a big, fluffy, coca-cola-themed stuffed bear.

A teenage girl and her mom are passing by after checking out.

Teenager: (stops dead in tracks, then makes a beeline for the drawing box) “Yes. Just to annoy dad.”

Maybe he’s a Pepsi fan?

Backstory:
Back from 2010 to 2015; I was in an abusive relationship. The ‘friend’ I moved in with got it in his head I was faking my autism, and was trying to beat the truth out of me, or get me to…ahh…give up on life, as I was ‘stealing from his social security retirement’ with my lie.
Sadly, this was a year AFTER he convinced me to set him up with control of my bank accounts to help teach me life skills, like paying bills on time, writing checks, etc.
I’m also a dude, but I’m not a big guy. It’d be safe to say that 130lbs is a healthy weight for me.

On to the story.

So, in 2013, I took a job about 30 miles south of where we lived, just to get away from him at 5 AM and get back at 9 PM. Just to get away from him for every weekday.

I’m driving into my job interview for the job when I get pulled over by a state cop. Turns out; the dude had pulled ALL the money from my bank account so my excise tax payment bounced.
Which meant my license plate was not valid.
Which meant my car got towed.
And yes; I’m still, to this day, convinced he did it explicitly so I would lose my car and thus any way to ‘get away’ or work away from him.

So I’m sitting in a town outside the main city of my job, still 10+ miles away. It’s maybe 4:20 in the afternoon.
I have no money. Nowhere to stay. I know no one around.

I walk about a mile to a diner the tow truck driver told me about. And it looks like something out of the 60’s mixed with a biker bar. Every customer is a tattoo-wearing biker (Turned out a meet was going on a few miles away).
I’m sitting in a corner, calling my ONE friend the abuser did not chase away. Sadly, she works 3rd shift AND it’s her night off, so she will not be awake for another 3+ hours.
I’m leaving a voicemail about how my account was drained and my car was towed, and trying to not panic (I have a fear of being in strange places. Even getting a job is hard work for me).
The waitress asks if I’ll eat anything, and I reply with ‘A glass of water, please’.
Awhile later, the waitress and the owner both walk over to my table, and plonk down a glass of soda and a stack of pancakes, bacon, and sausage.
I start panicing about paying, when owner says ‘She’ *points to the waitress* “Overheard your call and told me. Food’s on the house.”

At this point, I’m trying to not cry from the kindness. It’s the first kind thing done for me in, well, 3 years.
As I’m finally starting to de-stress, one of the bikers walked up to me. Turns out; half the bikers had hard the story, too (I apparently have trouble keeping my voice down when I’m on the verge of a breakdown).
They pooled a few 20’s they had to let me rent a motel room if I could not get a ride back north.

It…was amazing, really.
And for anyone wondering:
1. My friend called me, and came to get me.
2. It took a few more years, but in 2015, I bailed on the abuser. Just packed a bag and left everything behind. I’m still fixing my credit score (He opened credit cards in my name when we lived together) but I’m much better off now!