In the Heat of the Night

It has been a busy time for me at work this week. I have been really knocking stuff out. With the temperature at 98 degrees, I heard a fair amount of comments about the weather. I don't really have a problem working in the heat. As long as I drink enough water, I'm fine. "Hydrate--or die," I say. (Laughing here.) The heat does affect people though, and often not merely physically.

My wife and I have a lot going on at present, and tonight because of another commitment, I had to cancel the martial arts class I teach. Bummer. So in light of our day, we decided to blow some money and we had a late meal with the Colonel. Sanders. Well, not personally. But anyway, I went to the local KFC. Normally there are not ten cars at the drive-through with people waiting past the payment window to get backed-up orders. Tonight there was.

I decided to go inside, and when I did, there was still a wait. The A/C was working overtime. It was noisy and very warm in the restaurant. At the head of the line, being helped by a very young girl, (eighteen tops), was a man about forty who was being a real pain. I hate to make book cover judgments, but he looked every bit the hotshot business guy. From the get go, he seemed to be annoyed that he had to talk loudly to get his words across the counter. Everything he said dripped with disdain and effectively got across the idea that he was superior to the incompetent person across from him.

She was not incompetent. She is just a kid in a fast food place trying to earn some money, and from what I could see, she was doing everything she possibly could to help a customer. As I said, it was noisy, and when she had to repeat anything to him to make sure she had it right, he became even more exasperated.

I am not trying to set myself up as a hero or anything, but when my turn came, I made sure I had a smile for this young woman, and when she had to ask me a couple of things twice I smiled again. Who knows, maybe she thought I was a grinning weirdo, but when it came time for me to take my receipt and leave, I made sure to tell her thanks a lot and that I appreciated her help. She threw me an ear-busting smile as I left.

It is sometimes an easy thing to show people the love of Jesus. I can think back toward many of the times I have had customers equally annoyed with me when I have done nothing wrong. If you don't have the mindset you can gain with time and maturity, it can kind of bum you out. My hope was that I gave her something in my small way to make her see that even though an impatient, disrespectful person can be kind of hard to deal with, it is often easy to get past. That's it. Just a little thing.

Sometimes just a little thing can speak volumes.