Generosity
Seems like I’m encountering generosity all over the place at the moment.
My dentist is crowding and re-working his day tomorrow so that I can get some necessary work started and finished before I leave for the conference. I think it’s probably cutting into his lunch hour to do it for me, and I didn’t ask him to. In fact, I told him he really didn’t need to do that, but he insisted.
The BC government cut annual PAC grants in half at the last moment, long after we’d already earmarked the anticipated funds to pay the rest of the bill for our brand new playground addition at my daughter’s school. I put out the word to all the parents in our school, and within a week, almost half the families chipped in from their own pockets at the most expensive time of the school year in a tough economy. We were stuck and they didn’t hesitate. Pretty amazing.
My mum’s on a cruise this week. One of the ladies at her dinner table is older and in need of a little extra help. The waiter and maitre d’ go beyond expectations every single night to make sure she gets a meal she can manage and even to cut up her food for her with no judgement, no hesitation, just matter-of-fact helpfulness. I don’t care if they are working for tips; that kind of generous service is above and beyond what anyone would expect.
Have you seen generosity around you lately? Tell me about it in the comments.
6 Comments
Hi Kathy – how about how generous you were with your time for us BookBroads last weekend? We know that we threw you in front of a camera with no prep, and we’re grateful to you for that. Has so much fun with you and kc – a great interview and sooo looking forward to volunteering at the conference!
Thank you.
It was fun. The conference is sure coming up quickly!
Accck! That last comment was made by ME while I was logged in as one of the volunteer groups that I support, the GHCS. Oops. Well, please be generous with *me*, yet again… it’s been a long, long week!
Ciao for now!
Ah well, I knew it had to be from one of the three of you. *g*
We had a long discussion about school and graduate studies with a charming and very sincere young waiter at Duke’s in Hawaii last week. This type of conversation is right up my husband’s alley since he often mentors young students and has a real knack for it. After some sage advice which was clearly appreciated, we left with handshakes all around and the young man’s promises to look into graduate work in kinesiology.
We returned for another dinner later in the week, this time with friends in tow. We couldn’t get seated in the section with “Young John” (as opposed to the “Old John” at the restaurant) but after dinner, Young John showed up at our table, grinning from ear-to-ear, and brought us a dessert, “my treat!” When we left, he came over and hugged and kissed us goodbye, thanking us for taking the time to talk to him “about things that matter.”
It’s neat to think the waiter went away after that dinner thinking about what you’d talked about. Amazing, isn’t it, how little things like taking the time to have that conversation can make such a difference to someone?