"Sam, what in the world happened to your hand?" asked Bob, a coffee shop regular who rides a bike and accuses me of being a hipster. For the first month and a half I worked here he came behind the counter and made his own latte. I always thought he didn't like me, or at least my espresso skills. I continued to think that ... until he was forced to let me make his coffee when he broke his collar bone, and he brought his son in to meet me. He was staring at my hand wrapped in a dirty towel and ice.
"I spilled espresso and the top 3 inches of a fresh coffee all over it"
He looked at me. It was 5:00 a.m so there aren't usually a lot of words exchanged. Make that reason number three I thought he didn't like me.
"Yah, it's not that bad. I mean, I just couldn't put it under water because I didn't want to make the guy wait any longer for his coffee." I suddenly felt embarrassed about the way I was babying it. "And now I'm just being kind of a wuss about it. I'm not good with pain. The only thing I deal with worse is disappointing people ... which is probably why I have this towel on my hand now."
"You kept serving someone even after you spilled 250 degree liquid all over your hand?" I expected to hear the usual Bob reaction about how ridiculous that was. But instead he said something surprising.
"It doesn't sound to me like you're a wuss at all. It sounds more like you're stronger than you give yourself credit for."
"I spilled espresso and the top 3 inches of a fresh coffee all over it"
He looked at me. It was 5:00 a.m so there aren't usually a lot of words exchanged. Make that reason number three I thought he didn't like me.
"Yah, it's not that bad. I mean, I just couldn't put it under water because I didn't want to make the guy wait any longer for his coffee." I suddenly felt embarrassed about the way I was babying it. "And now I'm just being kind of a wuss about it. I'm not good with pain. The only thing I deal with worse is disappointing people ... which is probably why I have this towel on my hand now."
"You kept serving someone even after you spilled 250 degree liquid all over your hand?" I expected to hear the usual Bob reaction about how ridiculous that was. But instead he said something surprising.
"It doesn't sound to me like you're a wuss at all. It sounds more like you're stronger than you give yourself credit for."
Sometimes hearing it from a stranger means more than hearing it from someone who cares about you so much.
ReplyDeleteyou ARE stronger than you give yourself credit for!