As a little girl growing up in the 60's, sex education meant your mom reading you a story about birds and flowers. The book was called, "the story of life", but did not give specifics and the point was lost on me!
When my sister was read this story, she went right to her little girlfriend and told her about it. This little girl's mother was ANGRY! So angry, in fact, her daughter was forbidden to play with my sister and all communication between the families was cut off. (Cut off, that is after the woman read my mom the riot act for teaching my sister to be promiscuous! ) No amount of explaining or apologizing would suffice.
After a few weeks of this, my mom baked a pie. She took it over to the neighbor's as a peace offering. She was invited in and the two women had pie and coffee and the rift was repaired.
Fast forward to 1984. I am in the middle of a nasty divorce and working three jobs just to keep a roof over my head. While a waitress at a nice restaurant, there were many types to deal with. Most people were pretty nice, but there were always the ones who were out to impress their colleagues at the business lunch, usually at the expense of the waitress.
There were three young yuppie men in particular who enjoyed toying with the wait staff. I was warned about them when I first started, as they would always ask for the newest waitress and the games would begin. They'd all place their orders, then when their food was delivered they would say the order was all wrong. Mind you, it was written down on the order pad, but no matter, the customer is always right. So back to the kitchen with the food and a reprimand from the owner about wasting and cost. Back to the table with the revised orders, with a smile and apology. But they still would speak down to the poor server and just be rude in general. Plus, they rarely tipped much, if anything.
One day, they weren't rude at all. In fact, they were quite jovial...... so I asked, "what's the occasion?" They told me which of them was having a birthday. It was the most health conscious one. I congratulated him and took their order, and they didn't complain when they got their food. NICE! After the meal, I took a bowl of fresh fruit out to him with a lit candle in the middle. He was shocked, but pleased. From that day on, those men asked for me and actually behaved themselves! Oh, and the tips from them weren't bad, either.
Thanks for the example, Mom! Humble pie tastes pretty good.
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