...if you've read my blog for awhile then you know I have a thing for firefighters. Today I paid it forward to one of the firefighters in our community...
Friday morning, I had a coupon for a free breakfast sandwich at Chick-Fil-A. I got there right when the doors opened at 6:30am and was 2nd in line, behind me was a firefighter. As soon as he got his drink, it started leaking so he got another. We started chatting about what station he was at, which one I go to for our carseats, etc...then I notice him starting to panic and looking a his watch. It had been a good 15 minutes since we'd order and no one had gotten their food yet.
He tells me that he can't be late to work and he has to be there by 7am. I asked what he'd ordered and we'd gotten the same thing. In my mind, I was thinking I'd just give him mine since he ordered after me. He keeps looking at his watch and tells me that they're only allowed to be late 5 times in their whole career and then they get fired. He told me in 18 years, he'd only been late once due to an ice storm which still counted as 1 of 5. He finally said he had to go and walked out the door without getting any of the food he'd paid for.
I felt so bad but what could I do? As soon as he left, the manager came out and gave us all coupons and apologized for our wait. I told him that the firefighter had to leave so he wasn't late...and then I told him exactly where his station was and hinted it would be nice if he made it up some way. I did see the manager write it down then I got my food and headed to work myself.
I still couldn't shake what had happened so on my way home, I stopped at a different Chick-Fil-A and ordered a #1 plus a bag of cookies. I spoke to the general manager there that I know. I told him what happened and asked if he could be sure to talk to the other store and make sure some coupons or something got dropped off at the station. He said absolutely, he'd take care of it. Then I took my goodies, got in my car and headed home...right past the station and took him lunch and cookies for the other firefighters. He was very grateful and thanked me many times. I told him it was the least I could do for everything they do for our community...and for all the carseat installations!
3 comments :
You're so sweet! I wish everyone was so kind to others.
LOVE that. Being in my line of work, we are very under-appreciated at times. Thanks for being so thoughtful.
Awww, I love this! I know they think it's so special when people do things for them - even if it's just coming by to drop off a picture their kid drew or to say thank you. :-)
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