WAITRESS IS IN FOR A SURPISE WHEN SHE FINDS OUT WHY A REGULAR CUSTOMER FOR 7 YEARS STOPPED COMING TO THE RESTAURANT

 

Many people have a speed dial list that has their family member’s name on the top whereas there are some who have the restaurant’s numbers saved on their speed dials. Whenever people aren’t in a mood to cook, they rush to a nearby restaurant and eat whatever they want to eat without even thinking about washing the dishes afterward. But all the customers aren’t alike, some people appreciate the delicious food and hard-work put up by the staff and leave huge tips while there are some who get angry over small things. Sometimes customers are so annoying that they can’t just be ignored. A waitress from Texas met one such annoying customer but she never minded his grumpiness until one day when her life takes a 180-degree turn because of the man.

Evolution

People nowadays have options at their disposal let it be of food, clothing, etc, you name it and you will find an answer on the internet. It has so many applications that are just made for the customer’s convenience so that they can order food and clothes or whatever they need at a convenient time without having to go anywhere.

Fancy Restaurants

To keep up with the modern generation, restaurants also have evolved with time. Now they aren’t just a place to dine in. Modern restaurants have their own theme they are famous for in that particular city. It gives eaters a chance to admire the artifact and paintings that the restaurant has put up on display. People today don’t go to restaurants just to dine in and make beautiful memories with their partners or families. Often they are interested in making monochrome or vintage stories for their social media accounts so that they can let people have an insight into their much happening life.

People

Waiters and waitresses make a lot of effort to fulfill the needs of the customers but no matter what, they know that they can’t satisfy each person equally. So they ignore their cranky nature most of the time. They generally serve, take the tip and forget about the rest. But there are some customers who are simply unforgettable.

Difficulty

The most difficult part for any waiter/waitress is to stay cheerful and helpful, even when they have grumpy and annoying customers. Anyone can lose their patience in such a case but at Luby’s, there was one waitress who was the life-saver for the rest of the staff at the restaurant. She was not only exceptionally talented in doing her job with precision but she was also the only staff member that the managers of the restaurant could trust blindly whenever they used to have a grumpy customer.

The Waitress

Melina Salazar was a Texan waitress at Luby’s which was very popular among the people around the town. Another reason why the restaurant was on the top list of favorite restaurants was because of Melina. She was extremely popular for her calm and helpful nature among the customers. Unlike the other staff, she had a charm with which she could easily captivate people under her spell.

Service

She didn’t believe in flattering people but her friendly nature was enough to make them visit the restaurant again. The managers were always surprised by her services and never received any complaint about her even from the grumpiest of customers that used to dine in the restaurant. Other staff often wondered how she always used to handle the customers so well.

Grumpy Customers

It had become her routine to deal with the cranky customers of the restaurants. But there was one particular old man who was a regular customer at Luby’s. Despite being so rude and mean to Melina, the waitress used to meet his torrent of complaints with a smile.

The Old Man

The old man used to complain about every insignificant thing and the whole staff was tired of him. None of the waitresses wanted to wait on him, except Melina Salazar. He even tried to test her patience but she never disappointed him and greeted him with a bright smile every time he used to come to the restaurant. Would the old man mend his ways?

 Demands

Walter “Buck” Swords, an 89-year-old World War II veteran, had really strange demands. Melina remembers, “He was mean to the girls. He wanted everything his way. He wanted the food very hot — he didn’t care, he burned himself!” She says, sometimes it used to become difficult for her to keep up with his demands still, she always tried to be calm in front of him.

Dominating

He was dominating and wanted things in his own ways. For seven years the man continued to act stubbornly whenever he used to visit the restaurant. He wanted his orders to be pipping hot. The waitress used to work hard to get his orders perfect and always served him with a smile. She never used to forget to ask him “how you doin’ today?”. Everyone used to be amazed by the level of patience that she used to show. 

Routine

Now it had become her routine to serve the old man while he complained about one or the other thing. She never used to mind his bad temper and started to take care of the old man like a member of her own family. He was very punctual about time and used to show up at a particular time every evening. But there was something she used to expect from him. What was she expecting from the veteran?

Expectations

The old man had become a little calmer over the years and now he used to occasionally complain about things. People at the restaurant used to think that this might have happened because Melina Salazar used to bring his order just the way he liked. Was it really like that? Did he use to notice the waitress’s dedication?

Regular Day

It was a regular day and Melina was taking orders, as usual, she looked at the clock and smiled. The old man was about to come to the restaurant. She ordered the chef to prepare the old man’s regular order before he arrives at the restaurant that day. Would he be happy to see the efforts made by the waitress?

Wait

After taking a couple of orders, she looked at the entrance of the restaurant and no one came in. She double-checked her watch with the wall clock and was surprised. Why was she so astonished? Her colleagues too started to notice the worry on her face. Things went out of her hand when she started mixing the orders of the customers. The customers who would often leave extra tips for her were now furious with her absent-minded behavior.

Worried

Somehow her manager calmed the furious customers down, he was also shocked that a woman who never used to forget anyone’s order, was now making such silly mistakes. He knew something might have happened that she was so worried. So when she finished her shift, her manager went straight to her to talk about things.

Truth

She apologized to him for her mistakes and promised that she would never repeat them again. But the manager was more interested in knowing about the reason behind her behavior that day. She hesitated for a while, then told him the entire truth. For a second, her manager looked at her in surprise and then burst out in laughter. She wasn’t able to understand the reason why her manager laughed at her concern.

Reasons

He was touched by her sincerity and simplicity but he found it amusing how she had become so attached to the old man. He then told her that he was just a customer and he would see his convenience first.  No matter how much the staff put their efforts and hard work in serving the customer if they find any other good restaurant they wouldn’t hesitate to go. But the waitress wasn’t convinced by the statement of her manager.

Heart Broken

But she was completely devasted when her manager said those words, though she always knew that this was bound to happen one day. She sat there for a while, she couldn’t think of him going anywhere but why didn’t he show up that day? There were several questions running inside her mind and she wanted to find answers for the same. Would she be able to find answers to this puzzling situation?

Going Back

The next morning she started off her work thinking that he would come back in the evening as usual but he didn’t show up that day or the following days too. This made her a little worried about the old man and she started praying for his well-being. She didn’t even have a contact number of the old man so that she could ask about his whereabouts. Where did the old man disappear all of a sudden?

Jokes

Soon after that day, several rumors began to circulate about the old man. People at the restaurants were quite happy with his absence but there was one person who was deeply affected by the same. Melina wanted to know about the old man but couldn’t find any resources that could lead her to him. People were assuming that he might have left coming there and wondered how the other restaurant would handle such a grumpy man.

Finding Ways

Melina’s worry was just increasing day by day and the jokes about the old man were making her furious. “How could people be so unaffected? she thought. The man was a regular customer at the restaurant and people were least worried about his sudden disappearance. She tried to find his contact number but couldn’t find it. Where was he?

Resuming

After a month, Melina too came to the conclusion that the old man might have found another restaurant near his house. This thought made her sad but it was much better than imagining him falling ill. Was her assumption true? After she had done whatever she could do finally she got back to her work with the same zeal she used to have before the old man’s disappearance.

Newspaper

One day she came to the restaurant a little early in the morning and saw the newspaper lying on the floor. She picked it up and put it on the table. She looked around but the whole restaurant was empty and she didn’t know what she would do until everyone comes in. She roamed around a bit but she got bored soon. Suddenly she saw the newspaper that was lying on the table near her. She picked it up again with no interest and started flipping it to pass her time.

Flipping

She never liked to read newspapers, so she was just looking at the photos that were above every news. After flipping 2 pages of the newspaper, she was bored of it too so she thought of taking a nap until the staff came. Just when she was putting the paper down something caught her eyes. What was it?

 Obituary

Her eyes widened when she saw Buck’s obituary printed in the newspaper loud and clear. She was aghast by the news and tears came running down her cheeks. The old man had passed away and would never visit the restaurant again. She was feeling guilty about not making an effort to find the old man’s contact number. But he was gone now. She sat still on the floor and tried to calm herself down but the tears didn’t stop rolling down her cheeks.

Feeling Bad

She felt bad that she wasn’t even able to go to pay homage to the veteran whom she had served food for 7 consecutive years. But now she couldn’t do anything, he was no more. So no matter how much she cried, sobbed or felt guilty, nothing could bring him back. But she took a day to understand this thing. When she went back home she tried to calm herself down as she knew it was inevitable and was supposed to happen one day because the man had grown old.

Next Day

The next day she tried to remain as calm as possible so that she wouldn’t end up making mistakes again. Despite his cranky nature, the waitress was sad about Buck’s death. She tried to continue her life as usual but was finding it difficult to concentrate. Now she had to do her shift without waiting for her crabby customer. After he was gone, she realized that she had begun to like the old man despite his cranky nature he had become her favorite customer.

Needs

The old man was a war veteran, he might have gone through a lot in those years. His grumpiness was the aftermath of the years that he had spent in his job. She couldn’t even offer him dinner at her expense at Luby’s but the least she could do was to be kind to him. But people at the restaurant never used to understand this thing. Little did she know that the old man used to notice how patient she was with him.

Good Deeds

It is always said that good deeds never go in vain and something similar happened with the waitress too. She used to take his orders because she thought it was her duty as a waitress to wait on customers. There was no hidden motive behind it. She just wanted to put a smile on the veteran’s face because she had seldom seen him smiling.

Hard Work

She had never thought in her dream that the veteran would have noticed her but it turned out he actually appreciated the young woman and her hard work. Though he had never said that in public or to her manager, he was keenly observing the waitress. She was dumbfounded when she came to know that she was his favorite waitress. But there was more to the surprising revelation.

Final Will

If that revelation wasn’t enough to surprise her, what she found out next gave her goosebumps. Buck had even mentioned her name in his final will and testament. She felt as if the ground had slipped under her feet. And the next discovery completely stupefied her and everyone at the restaurant. What else might be written in his will?

Questions

She had so many questions running inside her mind, “why did the old man mention her name in his will?” He had never said a nice or kind word in the public about her and hardly used to leave a tip for her. She wondered what might have he written in the will. And why had the man shown such generosity?

Lawyer

After a couple of days, a lawyer reached out to her to reveal what was written in the final will of the old man. The lawyer fixed a meeting with her so that they could talk about everything in private. When she met the lawyer in person she came to know that the old man didn’t just appreciate her but Melina came to know that she was receiving $50,000 and his car!

Generosity

She was totally overwhelmed by the old man’s generosity, she had been a waitress for so long and had dealt with numerous grumpy customers. But whenever the old man used to come to the restaurant she felt that he was different from other mean and cranky customers that she used to deal with. Nobody used to believe her then but now everyone was jealous of her. And why wouldn’t they be? The reward was quite large!

Overwhelmed

The reward was a secondary thing for her, she was overwhelmed by the generosity shown by the old man. The thing that touched her the most was that her efforts and hard work didn’t go in vain. She was happy that her caring nature was noted and not overlooked. She showed the world that patience and persistence definitely pay off.