Chocolate Covered Strawberries

I am a complete sucker for food.

In fact, I think the fastest way to win my love is ice cream and Chinese food.

Just for future reference.

A couple of days ago I was working at Olive Garden.
We had one large party that was waiting to go back and had no clean tables.
A couple walked in and said they'd need a spot for two.
I told them it would be about 5 minutes for us to get a table cleaned off.
Right then I heard over my headset that one of the booths was clean,
So I turned to the couple and said, "Actually we just got a clean table and can take you back right now."

Now, this was the first day I was running everything at the host stand,
Because the other two hosts I was working with were even newer than I was.
I was trying to hear what was going on over the headset, talk to the guests coming in, and figure out where I was going to stick the party.
So I'm assuming I seemed a little frazzled.
But I was doing my best.

A couple minutes after we had sat the couple, the lady walked back up to me, handed me a box, and said, "Thank you for getting us seated so quickly. I want you guys to have these."
I thanked her and then she sat back down.
Inside the white box were chocolate covered strawberries that she had obviously bought.
They were absolutely delicious and I was astonished by her kindness.

Go out and make the world a little better.

Spiders

I don't like spiders.

They are creepy, fast, and can appear out of thin air.

I have this theory that spiders used to kill millions of people.

That would explain why so many of us don't like spiders.

We have this fear ingrained to keep us alive.

Like instinct.

It's a theory I don't think will ever be proven.

Anyway, I have a couple of rules when it comes to exterminating these killers.

1. I refuse to kill one when it's above my head.

I can't tell you how many times I've gone to kill a spider on the ceiling and had it drop. 

Sometimes on me.

2. I refuse to kill one when it's in an enclosed space.

This is because I know that once I reach into that enclosed space it will have been a trap and another spider will appear from nowhere and ambush me.

Today I was working like normal at my desk for Deseret Digital Media.

I was hitting my stride when I saw something drop out of the corner of my eye.

It was a spider.

Not just a little one either.

Naturally, I shoved back from the desk and watched as it darted back into a crevice.

Now, I know that there are spiders almost everywhere.

And I'm completely fine with that, as long as I don't see them.

But once I see one, I have to know where it is at all times or soon it will be crawling on me.

I just know it will be.

I searched for a while before I realized I was never going to be able to find it.

I returned to work, making sure to keep an eye out for any movement.

As soon as I thought it had simply ran off, it darted back onto my desk.

I shoved back from the desk (thank goodness for rolling chairs),

And decided I was not going to let it out of my sight this time.

I also wasn't going to kill it because it was in an enclosed space.

So, I very calmly said, "I know this is going to sound really strange, but there's a spider on my desk and I don't like it."

One of my co-workers came over to see, then grabbed a tissue and attempted to kill it.

Unfortunately his attempt failed because it crawled back into the crevice.

But at least he tried.

I also found one of the silver linings about sitting in the developers section at work,

I sit by only men who are completely capable of killing a spider in an enclosed space.

Go out and make the world a little better.

Reminiscing

Do you remember your high school prom?

Did you go?

I almost didn't go to mine.

In fact, the only reason I was able to go was because one of my neighbors was kind enough to ask me when he learned that I hadn't been asked yet.

As kind and incredible as this deed was, it isn't what stands out to me the most.

What does is on our date, after dinner, we were walking back to the limo, and passed a homeless man who asked everyone in the group if we had any money to spare.

We all answered in the negative and continued walking.

All of a sudden my date turned back around, took some money out of his pocket, and handed it to the man.

When he came back I must have had a puzzled expression on my face,

Because he simply shrugged and said, "If that was me, I hope someone would be willing to help me out a little."

Now I'm not telling you to go out and start handing money to all the people you see out on the street begging for money.
Because I don't necessarily think that's the best way to help people.
But I loved how completely nonjudgmental this young man was.
He simply realized that, had roles been switched, he would have liked a little help too.
Such is the golden rule.

Go out and make the world a little better.

It's the Simple Things

To the man who opened the train door and then gestured for me to go first...

Thank you.

Thank you for showing me that chivalry is not yet dead.

To the woman who took a few extra seconds out of her morning to hold the elevator doors open until I made it in...

Thank you.

Thank you for being patient enough to show kindness to a stranger.

Finally, to the young man who offered his seat to an elderly gentleman on the train...

Thank you.

Thank you for showing that there is still hope left for my generation.

Go out and make the world a little better.