A restaurant's elderly client bequeaths $50,000 and a car to his favorite waitress
"The customer is always right", but sometimes he also has a really big heart. The episode we are about to tell of talks about how small gestures are important for people who we meet every day.
In a restaurant there is a daily coming and going of people and often some customers put a strain on the patience of those who work there. However, a kind word or a smile when you want to react with irritation can really make a difference.
We are in Brownsville, Texas. Walter Swords, known as "Buck" is an 89-year-old World War II veteran. Every day the man sits at the same table in a restaurant called Luby. His grumpy temperament won him a bad reputation among the waitresses of the place. Having to serve him meant spending the so-called "bad quarter of an hour". The only one to tolerate his unsociable ways was Melinda Salazar.
Only she knew how to take it, reacting calmly and kindly even when faced with the inevitable complaints. All this without ever compromising the quality of the service. Buck had been a regular presence at the diner for as long as 7 consecutive years. Then in the summer of 2007 Melissa realized that the man had not shown himself for some time. A few days later she learned that the elderly man had passed away.
Despite not having exactly wonderful memories of him, she was shocked at the news. She had grown accustomed to that quirky old man, and had become fond of him in her own way. Five months later, just before Christmas, a man entered the restaurant who was the executor of his will.
To her great surprise, the woman discovered that Walter had left her his car, a 2000 Buick, as well as $50,000 in cash. Mr. Swords had a bad temper, and in life he never managed to show gratitude for her sweetness. He did it his way, without words but with deeds. This story shows how goodness and courtesy are always the right way, and that at the end of the road there is always a reward.
