Ive worked in restaurants for pretty much a long time. Ive been a Server/National Trainer for well over 3 years. It is so common that people want the product I sell for a discount, if not for free. I am constantly having friends, family, and mere acquaintances asking me to "hook them up." Most of the time if it’s somebody I know and/or like/love so I am willing to oblige. I have also encountered my fair amount of transients looking for "hand outs," to which I usually decline.

 Last year I was stuck all alone on "5 de Mayo," also known as Mexican Independence Day. My Chinese cuisine restaurant was dead pretty much all night. Frank came in for dinner, and David and Lauren had fun at the bar. At about 12:15 I was closing when the host came and told me someone was at the front asking for a manager. We couldnt find her for some strange reason, so I went to talk to him. The first thought that came to mind was please dont let this be a complaint. As I approached the guy, who seemed fairly well dressed, but somewhat thuggish I thought well maybe he wants to book a large party reservation or better yet, maybe he wants to rob and kill me. In my professional manner, I reached out my hand to shake his, introduced myself and he explained that he has had a really rough night and simply asked for some leftover rice or soup. I cant tell you how many times Ive gotten this request and told people no. Seriously its way too many times for me to count. But, for whatever reason I said sure and that I would be right back. So I got to the kitchen, and packed one rice box full of plain white steamed rice. Then I realized I had tons of the Asian staple, so I packed 4 more boxes. I threw some soy sauce, cutlery, and fortune cookies in the bag and walked back up front. I got about half way before I thought he probably would like some water too. So I got a cup and walked to the beverage station. I then stood there and thought he probably would prefer Coke. I walked right up to him with his "dinner" for the night and he reached into his huge stack of newspapers and such and pulled out a green sheet of paper of which it seemed that he had several others. He became very gracious and said that in return he would like me to read a few kind words of appreciation he wrote. I said sure and walked away. The guy walked out the door.

The green sheet of paper and its contents:

"Today & Tomorrow" (his title for it)

Victor Wooten (thats his name)

I will be positive in all of my thoughts.

I will be a blessing to all those I encounter.

I will be creative and dynamic in my work.

I will concentrate on solutions, not problems.

I will be energetic and enthusiastic in all I do.

I will act on all the decisions that I make.

I will walk with honor and integrity.

I will be thankful for all that I do have.

I will smile each day.

In Jesus Christ name, complete happiness.

Thank you.

I got to the end completely tearing up. The sous chef, Patricia, who Ive worked with for many years now came up to me and asked why I was crying. I told her the story and she read the note. As she looked up at me after reading her eyes were swelling too.

Earlier in the night one of the servers showed me a note that his table left him, to which he also showed Patricia. It said. "Tip of the Day: A stuck up FAGGOT server doesnt get any money from us." OK, so that was paraphrased, but the F word was used and you get the point. I asked Patricia why she was crying over the green note and she said it is because in the end the reason you (me) gave the guy some rice is because we are all people. Black, white, hispanic, straight, gay. It doesnt matter. We are all people and we should respect each other as such. The whole time I was reading this letter, I thought to myself this guy seemed completely normal. He was dressed no differently than you or I. Yet, he probably hit up some really hard times in life and was just looking for someone to care about him. I imagined as I was reading this that he wrote this letter (which had clearly been photocopied) one day while he was sitting on a bench thinking down on himself. I imagined he wrote this letter as an inspirational note. Something that he reads everyday he wakes up in order to make it through the day.

I probably wont read it everyday of my life. But, I will most definitely refer back to it from time to time and wonder Today and Tomorrow, what can I do to be a better person?