Wendy’s, Small Moments, And Big Attitudes
I was at the airport the other day and running late for my flight.
I swung by Wendy’s to shorten the duration of my life by one day in order to grab a Asiago Chicken Sandwich Combo.
I waited patiently.
I could see from my position that my plane was almost done boarding.
So I walked up to the counter and asked how much longer.
Brother with his Wendy’s hat cocked sideways looked at me and shrugged his shoulders.
Ugh.
By the time the last person had boarded the plane Wendy had finished killing the chicken and cooking it for me.
“Order 87!”
That was me.
Thank God.
“Hey man. Could I get lots of ketchup?”
To this request he looked at me and while maintaining eye contact the entire time, grabbed ONE packet of ketchup and placed it in my bag.
“Hey man. I said a lot. Could I get some more?”
To which he gave me one more packet.
“OK. Sorry. I guess I’m not being clear. Like give me 7 packs. I like to drink the stuff.”
“Sorry man. I ain’t allowed to” and he turned around to fill someone else’s order.
“EXCUSE ME? EXCUSE ME? Are you seriously telling me you won’t give me anymore ketchup? Stop what you are doing…And grab me another packet of ketchup now. It’s not that difficult.”
After this the lady in line behind me spoke up…
“He can have my ketchup buddy. You think you can understand that? Can you GIVE. HIM. MY. KETCHUP?”
At this moment the hardness on the face of the man with the crooked Wendy’s cap went away.
He grabbed a handful of ketchup and placed it in my bag.
He then kinda put his face in his hands for what had to be a nanosecond but I saw it long enough.
A plethora of emotions and thoughts flew through my head.
1. This guy looked like he was in his 30′s. He had been through a lot. He was close to my age plus or minus 2 years and probably had some kids around.
2. I was getting on a plane with my laptop and iPhone and Asiago Chicken Combo. He was filling someone else’s soda.
3. I was actually offended that the woman behind me spoke to him so rudely. Who does she think she is?
4. I realized that he was probably more offended by me than by her.
5. When he placed his face in his hands it was with a look of exhaustion filled with determination.
The small moments of our lives are the things that make up the big moments.
We may feel like we exist to create big moments for ourselves, our family, and the people we interact with, but that is actually such a small part of our existence.
We exist in a way that places most of our significance on small moments.
And my small moment ruined that guys big moment of a day.
So this week, while you are pumping your gas, walking out the door to work, making that routine business call, or asking for more ketchup…
Make your small moment someones BIG moment.
It’s better that way.
Los
RAIN IT DOWN
I’m always glad to see others share things like this. It’s so easy to get caught up in whatever we’re doing that we forget to take care of others around us. I’ve been taught this lesson the hard way several times and ended up walking away feeling like a huge doof.
Thanks for sharing, bro.
This honestly just brought tears to my eyes. Just shows me how often it probably happens that we don’t see what is REALLY going on with someone other than the 30 seconds we get out of their day. Someone’s crap attitude towards me probably really only has 4% to actually do with ME. I need to be reminded of that, thanks.
Thanks for sharing, Los. I worked in fast food for all of high school and part of college, and I cringe when I see others treating their servers poorly. Thankless jobs already suck. Adding people who are rude or downright mean just makes it worse. Conversely, one nice comment can totally transform a crappy shift.
Man, this is convicting, Los. I can be a pretty big dick sometimes. Then I roll down the street in a car with church stickers all over wondering why I’m not making an impact in the world. Frick. Thanks for sharing, bro.
“Good Game” for this one Los! Christ was so spontaneous in scripture and your encouragement seems the same.
Los, thanks for this. I am 30, have a wife and two kids, and have been working in the fast food industry for 4 of the last 5 years just to make ends meet. The worst part of the job is how people treat people in the food service industry like they are trash, there were time while working at particular chicken sandwich chain that I wanted to reach across the counter and punch somebody. It has totally changed the way I act at fast food restaurants. Thanks for this reminding me of how I need to act. Your insight is awesome Los!
This post is so heart-breaking, but a sharp reminder to remember and always be aware of the state of our hearts in relation to others. Thank you for reminding me to be kind. So simple, but so hard to put into flesh.
interesting how when we break experiences down into simple lists of observations, we notice things far more complex than in real-time life.
Los I was just thinking about this same things just the other day. Thank you for sharing.
Ps I joined the Navy and I am right now in Pensacola FL. do you know of a good church close by.
Bro, thank you for serving and protecting our country! Fairfield Presbyterian and The Cross Church are both a part of the gospel coalition so I would start there.
Thanks bro, I will check them out.
You don’t get a slap on the wrist from me.
You should control yourself. Had you not been late for your flight, you wouldn’t have had to badger the poor guy for ketchup. Also, you fail to realize that if everyone could have enough ketchup to drink at an airport, they’d run out of ketchup. If anything, you have to pay for more condiments/ sauces.
It doesn’t matter that you made some kind of revelation that this guy might have a million other things going on in his life. Perhaps he didn’t. Perhaps he was just tired of dicks like YOU who take no responsibility for their own shortcomings. You were only being belligerent because you were thinking that you were going to miss your plane. Had that not been the case, none of this would have happened.
Looks like he’s taking responsibility right now, doesn’t it?
It’s sad to think how much negative influence we spread sometimes. I’ve heard it mentioned that Christ was never in a hurry. Kids run up to Him and what does He do? Sick guys and gals? I spend more time worrying about what someone thinks of me on a blog post than treating someone I see everyday on the bus with love and respect.
Local fast food restaurants in my area hide the condiments behind the counter and determine how much you can have for free based on the size of your order and you have to pay for “extra.” So he may have just been doing his job.
Also not cool…cussing at the library worker (while standing near the children’s section) because you can’t access your email account.
Happens every day, everywhere we go. We must slow down. Be different. Push back the darkness. Be a blessing with no strings attached. It IS better that way. Thanks for your honesty Los.
Finished doing the devotional readings with the kids and I read this to my husband and did our own little devotional. We have been talking a lot about humility lately and this was a “check your humility” kind of moment…thnx for sharing:)
I unfortunately had almost the exact same argument at Wendy’s today about ketchup. Not my best moment. The small ones are the important ones sometimes. I probably owe Ms. Patty (yes, I read her nametag before I was rude) an apology.
I appreciate the honesty of this post! I am very rarely tempted to post on someone’s blog but, I just think that this is great. Its important to remember that EVERYONE is human weather they wear a Wendy’s hat or are boarding a plane. I think sometimes we lose sight of that.
Guilty. I must admit that some days I resemble this man, when I submit a design proposal for someone’s site and they start telling me why they think some other site design made in the 90′s works better in their opinion; as if they studied color and design theory with a dose of current web trends. Yesterday was one of those days.
Awesome thoughts!
I was at Disneyland last month and I thanked every employee on every ride that helped us. We can be mean, mean, mean…
I’m glad you felt bad enough about your jerk behavior to blog about it. But did you actually apologize to the guy? Or is this just another of those Christian things where you do something really douchey and then talk about how it’s a “teachable moment” and ask everyone to admire how wonderfully humble you are?
truth.