A Couple Of Couple Encounters

After working in hospitality for over ten years, you can believe me that I have seen a lot, but this takes definitely the cake.

At this time I am 20 years old and working as a waitress in a hotel in northern Italy. I am always assigned the same section of the restaurant and as most guests were on half board, I usually serve the same guests for one or two weeks, at least for both breakfast and dinner. One elderly, German couple stood out the most: always polite, always ready to joke with me, and just generally pleasing.

However, I only work there for one year and then leave.

Five years later, I move to Dubai to work at the front desk in a five-star resort and after a couple of months, low and behold, I notice an elderly couple that seems familiar. Yes, you guessed it, it was the same couple from the place I used to work back then, and they still recognized me! They brought me German chocolate and passed by every evening for two weeks to chat. The husband even brought his slippers from his room, showing me that he had “stolen” them from my previous hotel, and we had a laugh.

Another two years pass by and I am on vacation at home, in Italy, when one day my mother decides she would like to visit her parents, who live in Germany. We drive to Germany very early in the morning and when we arrive, my grandparents decide to invite us all for lunch in a nearby city. While walking through the city centre, I see an elderly couple from behind and start smiling, because they remind me of the elderly couple I knew. Well, they turn around and I must have made a rather startled sound, because they look at me and just stand there, shocked. My mother gets really worried and asks what happened while I and the elderly couple are just staring at each other.

I explain the situation, and we hug and take pictures — the husband saying that he has to take pictures, otherwise no one is going to believe this — and my parents and my grandparents can not stop laughing.

I have not seen them since, but I am sure that in a couple of years, we will meet again!