Elder Widow Eating Alone Leaves A Small Note With Her Tip That Left The Waitress In Sweet Tears.

[babylonsister]

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/7/24/2041764/-Elder-Widow-Eating-Alone-Leaves-A-Small-Note-With-Her-Tip-That-Leaves-The-Waitress-In-Sweet-Tears

Elder Widow Eating Alone Leaves A Small Note With Her Tip That Left The Waitress In Sweet Tears.
Tevye
Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)
Saturday July 24, 2021 · 4:41 PM EDT


Megan King was pulling a double shift at her waitressing job last Sunday, and was halfway though it, when the customer was seated.

A quiet, elder woman.

As Megan told Newsweek, “She came in about halfway through my 17-hour shift, and it was on Sunday, which is always pretty busy.

About halfway through her meal, it started to slow down so we chatted for a few minutes. Small talk, nothing too deep. She told me she was almost 70… and she just wanted to stop by an old favorite for a bite.”

With her $3.00 tip on the $11.00 check, she left a little note.



‘Thank you very much for your kind service. This was my first time eating out alone since my husband passed. I was hoping I could get through it.’

As she ate, King noticed that the woman seemed quiet, contemplative and calm. Megan assumed there might be something wrong with the food, but in hindsight, she wished she had been more alert to her charge.

“I wish I had taken it quietly as an invitation.

I think that’s what she wanted, looking back… I guess she did, in a way. She needed an ear.”

She was so filled with reflection and emotion, she started to cry and had to go the staff bathroom to pull it together.

As many in her generation, she took to twitter.

With two words.

Just a gentle reminder…..please be kind.

To those around you.

To yourself.

We’re all veterans of a long and protracted and exhausting battle.

[calimary]

1. K&R.

A message for us all.

[malaise]

2. So true

Rec

[Uncle Joe]

3. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread babylonsister.

[soldierant]

4. I have come to the conclusion that

when Tevye works out, he mostly does Soul Lifts.

Not that he really needs to. He is so good at it already.

Thank you for bringing him here.

[Traildogbob]

5. Hello

You know that old trees just grow stronger
Old rivers grow wilder every day.
Old people just grow lonesome
Waitin on someone to say, Hello in there, hello.
John Prine.
One of my favorites.
A simple hello, can mean so much.

[Trueblue Texan]

12. Love John Prine...

...and love old folks. They have lived so much, know so much, and want to share so much. I hope you don't miss out!

[Traildogbob]

17. My forests say hello

Every day I’m in there. They never judge. Always share. Always have a story to tell. Just gotta look and listen. Old folks and old forests are where we learn the most, if we just listen. No key pads, no digital, no service connections, no Google, no twitting, just listen. And hopefully learn and appreciate what they give us, have given us.

[NQAS]

6. Elder?

Sure, if you’re 25, 70 is elder. I’d be interested to know if the 70 year olds here consider themselves elder.

Still, a touching story. It doesn’t take much to have a kind word for all the service workers, and others, you encounter every day.

[UTUSN]

8. Yea, am 74 & had the same thought. Have had it work both ways: Some of the younger ones from work,

running into them after I retired, one said, "A blast from the past!1" And another one told somebody, "Is he still *alive*?" And another one talked to me like I was deaf or with Alzheimers. Not to mention the grocery baggers expecting to help me to the car.

But in this case, I get the pathos of her eating alone for the first time (after loss).

[Shellback Squid]

9. lol, I was called an older guy by a client, on the phone trying to describe the person that helped

them earlier, and I realized she was describing me, "he was the older guy at the first office".....wow, I'm 58

[UTUSN]

10. You're 58? - I *hate* young people.

[Shellback Squid]

27. where's your lawn?

get off my lawn!

[grantcart]

18. Funny how perspectives change. At 67 I see 70 as young.

That commercial about people turning into their parents is the funniest thing on TV.

When I was younger I never thought I would pass 58, the age my dad died and now, brb there are some young yikes just traipsing across my lawn.

[DownriverDem]

28. Not funny

to me. I find it insulting.

[grantcart]

36. Insulting? Lol how did you find it insulting?

[Raine]

11. My thoughts too, glad I wasn't the only one. nt

[whathehell]

14. I'm 71 and can't relate to that word at all..

I can't argue with the numbers, but I'll be damned if I feel, look or act like an 'elder'.

[murielm99]

15. I am 72.

When my daughter's lawyer referred to us as her "elderly parents," I was speechless.

I do not think of myself as elderly.

[whathehell]

32. I know..To me it equates with "old and frail"

I refuse the term entirely.

[wryter2000]

33. I was in my late 60's when I signed up at my gym

The kid kept calling me "elderly." I told him most of us would like to be called seniors, not elderly. I don't much care. I'm old now. But I didn't want him upsetting other people.

[Vinca]

19. I'm almost 73 and the last word I would use to describe myself is "elder."

Yesterday, for example, I spent the day clearing brush out of an overgrown area behind the garage, pulling many of the vines and weeds out roots and all. (FYI gardeners, those noxious Japanese Knotweed vines easily come out roots and all if you've been in an area that's received inches of rain in the past week or so.)

[DownriverDem]

26. My first thought too.

69 is not "elder".

[DuckBurp]

34. I'm 71 and I don't care what they call me ...

just as long as I get the senior discount.

[MustLoveBeagles]

7. K&R

[Trueblue Texan]

13. Age is relative...

When I'm 84, I'll remember how I thought 84 year olds needed an ear more than others. What a privilege to be that ear!

[DFW]

16. Age is SO relative

My wife and I met when we were 22. That was exactly 47 years ago. TODAY!

Forty-seven years seemed like a geological era to us. Our mothers were both 47 at the time. My wife has survived cancer twice, I have survived a heart attack. Her mom will be 94 in September. Neither of my parents made it to 80. Both they and ALL of their siblings had cancer. My chances of making it another ten years are statistically slim.

But you never know what is in store or what the future holds. We have friends who are our age, and they don’t seem “old” to us. Others we know are younger and seem ancient to us. In retrospect, “old” is a concept with very movable goalposts. Just ask Joe Biden.

[MontanaMama]

20. This young woman was working a 17 hour shift?

My word.

[The Jungle 1]

22. They do not understand that it did not used to be this way.

[Evolve Dammit]

21. Another awesome thread! Thanks

[The Jungle 1]

23. Wow what a picture

A young girl with a huge smile and a tear!

[PlanetBev]

24. I'm 70 and can't believe the things I've lived through

I’ve come out the other side stronger for it.

But of all the things I’ve lost, I miss my many great friends who have died untimely deaths, two of them in their 30’s.

[DownriverDem]

25. Nice story, but

69 is not "elder". Remember that as you rack up the years.

[babylonsister]

29. It is elder if you're 20 something.... nt

[chia]

35. When I was 21 I thought my oldest sister, age 29, married, with several kids... was ancient

Now that I'm of a 'certain age,' I understand how relative age is to others, and I allow them that space to someday understand themselves. As a side note - in my mind I'm still very much younger than my actual age. From a psychological standpoint I wonder why we do this.

[ananda]

30. Cry

So moving and really sweet.

[Historic NY]

31. Some people need a "clean, well lighted place" for comfort or security...

even if they don't interact with others. I can relate to that.



see Hemingway...