The Elderly Man in the Coffee Shop - A Short (and True) Story

      As part of my routine, I will regularly visit the local coffee shop down the street.  It sits about 150 yards from my door, which makes it entirely too convenient to visit.  It’s your usual coffee chain, very famous in Canada.  It’s pretty much an assembly line experience.  In the door, stand in line, give your order, shift to the side and wait for your coffee, out the door.  The experience is usually not memorable.

On this particular visit as I was walking to the door to begin the assembly line process of getting my coffee, I noticed an elderly gentleman with a walker behind me.  It was clear that he was struggling.  I wondered to myself if this was a normal day for the man or perhaps he was having an extra bad day.  God forbid that this was one of his GOOD days, because he was breathing heavy, wheezing, and making very slow progress toward the door.  I waited for him.

I could have just hit the automatic door button, but I wasn’t sure that he would even make it to the door during the time that it was open.  As I held the door open for him, he managed to get some words out, telling me that he was having a bad day today which kind of answered my earlier wonderings.  We went inside and fortunately the line was pretty much non-existent.  Maybe one or two people ahead of me.

The old man said that he was going to sit down and rest for a few minutes before he got in line to order.

“I can get your coffee for you Sir.”  I was already in line anyway, and it would help the guy out.  

“What would you like?”

He gave me his order and I stood in line.  It wasn’t long before I was placing our order.  A coffee and a muffin for me, and a coffee for him.  I paid the $4 and brought the gentleman his coffee.  He started to fumble around in his pocket for the change to pay for his coffee.

“Don’t worry about it Sir.  It’s on me.”  I figured that the least I could do for a man that was struggling as much as this man was struggling today, was buy him a coffee.  He thanked me a couple of times, I wished him a good day, and I left.

It was a small gesture.  The chance meeting with the gentleman was unforeseen, but the very simple act of holding the door for him, sharing a few words, and buying him a coffee made me feel good.  I had done something that had made this man’s day just a little bit better for awhile.  It cost me less than $2, but it was worth much more to me.

The fact that this happened over a year ago is proof of how much meeting the man has stuck with me.  I still feel good when I think about it, and I imagine that it has stuck with me longer than it stuck with him.  It’s a good reminder to me that every good deed does not have to be a grandiose gesture, or an expensive one.  We can do good, and feel good about just by taking a moment of our day to be kind and helpful to someone that needs it.

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