Mother’s Pay

Editors' Choice, Inspirational, Kind Strangers | Hopeless | May 16, 2016

(A man comes in on Mother’s Day who only wants a glass of water. He sits there for a while, and while he isn’t rude, he isn’t particularly nice either. About the time he is going to leave he calls me over.)

Man: “You know that young lady over there?”

(I think he was going to complain about another server, and I hold back an eye-roll.)

Man: “I want to pay for her meal.”

(Instantly I realize he is talking about the mother alone with her child a few tables over. I thank him profusely, take his payment, and he leaves. When it is time for the woman’s bill I go to talk to her.)

Me: “Your meal is already paid for by the gentleman who was sitting over there.”

Woman: “Are you serious? I wish I could thank him. That’s the one good thing that has happened to me in a long time.”

(Her eyes began to fill with tears. Then I noticed she was wearing a bracelet indicating a male close to her had recently died. I thank that man for touching the life of a woman who was going through a hard time, and teaching me to not always judge a book by its cover!)

This story is part of the Mother’s Day 2023 roundup! This is the last story in the roundup, but we have plenty of others you might enjoy!

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