The Folded Napkin ... A Truckers Story | |
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Ralph--a house dog User ID: 25802009 United States 11/25/2012 05:27 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Very heartwarming! And it is always good to hear of those who have the ability to look beyond the disability of another and see the real person inside. "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night.....Rage, rage against the dying of the light"-----Dylan Thomas HIS NAME IS SETH RICH [link to biblicalselfdefense.com] [link to forum.1111ers.blog] Always remember that "for the greater good" will not include YOU. "Who decides?" ---Robert A. Heinlein -'Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.'—Benjamin Franklin [link to www.westcoasttruth.com] The only thing worth paying full retail for is pantyhose. You cannot do all of the good the world needs, but the world needs all of the good you can do. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 9788321 United States 11/25/2012 05:30 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | If only we could all be more like Stevie and forget everything we THINK we know about life... humanity would come back into balance. |
Abi ~ User ID: 25045778 United States 11/25/2012 05:30 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | ty for a wonderful story!!! good to know there are still wonderful, caring souls in the world.. You accept the love you think you deserve~~~ Love cannot live where there is no trust~~~ Truth has no temperature~~~ Love like it's never gonna hurt~~~ Have no regrets~~~ |
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Anonymous Coward User ID: 28117669 United States 11/25/2012 05:37 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | It's very telling that human beings can't help but love someone who has no preconceived notions about life, religion, or society. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 9788321 If only we could all be more like Stevie and forget everything we THINK we know about life... humanity would come back into balance. So if we all started sacrificing ourselves for someone else, because we're sacrificed for someone else, then everything will be balanced? |
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Anonymous Coward User ID: 1516834 United States 11/25/2012 09:49 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | It's very telling that human beings can't help but love someone who has no preconceived notions about life, religion, or society. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 9788321 If only we could all be more like Stevie and forget everything we THINK we know about life... humanity would come back into balance. So if we all started sacrificing ourselves for someone else, because we're sacrificed for someone else, then everything will be balanced? I think the point is we should be living a life of service to others, not service to self. Then the population wouldn't be in such a state of greed. |
beeches User ID: 28167778 United States 11/25/2012 09:51 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
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sTTsTTT User ID: 20711409 United States 11/25/2012 09:59 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | I sincerely wish you had posted as a "regular" rather than anonymous. Would love to give you green Karma for this unexpected & uplifting story! Thank you. Apocalypse: All shall be revealed. And all shall be revealed. ******* All Human Beings are Human. Not all Humans are Human Beings. ******* |
TDJ User ID: 26423286 United States 11/25/2012 10:00 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | I got this in an email a long time ago. Once my eyes stopped watering I sent it to everyone I had on my list. Most replied with a "thanks" don't usually hear back about email. If something can corrupt you, you're corrupted already. Bob Marley “The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” THOMAS PAINE (1737-1809) Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one. Bruce Lee |
CORNHAULER (cornholer) User ID: 27720836 United States 11/25/2012 10:00 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | If stevie The Folded Napkin ... A Truckers Story Quoting: Anonymous Coward 25783006 I try not to be biased, but I had my doubts about hiring Stevie. His placement counselor assured me that he would be a good, reliable busboy. But I had never had a mentally handicapped employee and wasn't sure I wanted one. I wasn't sure how my customers would react to Stevie. He was short, a little dumpy with the smooth facial features and thick-tongued sp eech of Downs Syndrome. I wasn't worried about most of my trucker customers because truckers don't generally care who buses tables as long as the meatloaf platter is good and the pies are homemade. The four-wheeler drivers were the ones who concerned me; the mouthy college kids traveling to school; the yuppie snobs who secretly polish their silverware with their napkins for fear of catching some dreaded "truck stop germ" the pairs of white-shirted business men on expense accounts who think every truck stop waitress wants to be flirted with. I knew those people would be uncomfortable around Stevie so I closely watched him for the first few weeks. I shouldn't have worried. After the first week, Stevie had my staff wrapped around his stubby little finger, and within a month my truck regulars had adopted him as their official truck stop mascot. After that, I really didn't care what the rest of the customers thought of him. He was like a 21-year-old in blue jeans and Nikes, eager to laugh and eager to please, but fierce in his attention to his duties. Every salt and pepper shaker was exactly in its place, not a bread crumb or coffee spill was visible when Stevie got done with the table. Our only problem was persuading him to wait to clean a table until after the customers were finished. He would hover in the background, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, scanning the dining room until a table was empty. Then he would scurry to the empty table and carefully bus dishes and glasses onto cart and meticulously wipe the table up with a practiced flourish of his rag. If he thought a customer was watching, his brow would pucker with added concentration. He took pride in doing his job exactly right, and you had to love how hard he tried to please each and every person he met. Over time, we learned that he lived with his mother, a widow who was disabled after repeated surgeries for cancer. They lived on their Social Security benefits in public housing two miles from the truck stop. Their social worker, who stopped to check on him every so often, admitted they had fallen between the cracks. Money was tight, and what I paid him was probably the difference between them being able to live together and Stevie being sent to a group home. That's why the restaurant was a gloomy place that morning last August, the first morning in three years that Stevie missed work. He was at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester getting a new valve or something put in his heart. His social worker said that people with Downs Syndrome often have heart problems at an early age so this wasn't unexpected, and there was a good chance he would come through the surgery in good shape and be back at work in a few months. A ripple of excitement ran through the staff later that morning when word came that he was out of surgery, in recovery, and doing fine. Frannie, the head waitress, let out a war hoop and did a little dance in the aisle when she heard the good news. Bell Ringer, one of our regular trucker customers, stared at the sight of this 50-year-old grandmother of four doing a victory shimmy beside his table. Frannie blushed, smoothed her apron and shot Belle Ringer a withering look. He grinned. "OK, Frannie, what was that all about?" he asked. "We just got word that Stevie is out of surgery and going to be okay." "I was wondering where he was. I had a new joke to tell him. What was the surgery about?" Frannie quickly told Bell Ringer and the other two drivers sitting at his booth about Stevie's surgery, then sighed: "Yeah, I'm glad he is going to be OK," she said. "But I don't know how he and his Mom are going to handle all the bills. From what I hear, they're barely getting by as it is." Belle Ringer nodded thoughtfully, and Frannie hurried off to wait on the rest of her tables. Since I hadn't had time to round up a busboy to replace Stevie and really didn't want to replace him, the girls were busing their own tables that day until we decided what to do. After the morning rush, Frannie walked into my office. She had a couple of paper napkins in her hand and a funny look on her face. "What's up?" I asked. "I didn't get that table where Bell Ringer and his friends were sitting cleared off after they left, and Pony Pete and Tony Tipper were sitting there when I got back to clean it off," she said. "This was folded and tucked under a coffee cup." She handed the napkin to me, and three $20 bills fell onto my desk when I opened it. On the outside, in big, bold letters, was printed "Something For Stevie. Pony Pete asked me what that was all about," she said, "so I told him about Stevie and his Mom and everything, and Pete looked at Tony and Tony looked at Pete, and they ended up giving me this." She handed me another paper napkin that had "Something For Stevie" scrawled on its outside. Two $50 bills were tucked within its folds. Frannie looked at me with wet, shiny eyes, shook her head and said simply: "truckers." That was three months ago. Today is Thanksgiving, the first day Stevie is supposed to be back to work. His placement worker said he's been counting the days until the doctor said he could work, and it didn't matter at all that it was a holiday. He called 10 times in the past week, making sure we knew he was coming, fearful that we had forgotten him or that his job was in jeopardy. I arranged to have his mother bring him to work. I then met them in the parking lot and invited them both to celebrate his day back. Stevie was thinner and paler, but couldn't stop grinning as he pushed through the doors and headed for the back room where his apron and busing cart were waiting. "Hold up there, Stevie, not so fast," I said. I took him and his mother by their arms. "Work can wait for a minute. To celebrate you coming back, breakfast for you and your mother is on me!" I led them toward a large corner booth at the rear of the room. I could feel and hear the rest of the staff following behind as we marched through the dining room. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw booth after booth of grinning truckers empty and join the procession. We stopped in front of the big table. Its surface was covered with coffee cups, saucers and dinner plates, all sitting slightly crooked on dozens of folded paper napkins. "First thing you have to do, Stevie, is clean up this mess," I said. I tried to sound stern. Stevie looked at me, and then at his mother, then pulled out one of the napkins. It had "Something for Stevie" printed on the outside. As he picked it up, two $10 bills fell onto the table. Stevie stared at the money, then at all the napkins peeking from beneath the tableware, each with his name printed or scrawled on it. I turned to his mother. "There's more than $10,000 in cash and checks on table, all from truckers and trucking companies that heard about your problems. "Happy Thanksgiving," Well, it got real noisy about that time, with everybody hollering and shouting, and there were a few tears, as well. But you know what's funny? While everybody else was busy shaking hands and hugging each other, Stevie, with a big, big smile on his face, was busy clearing all the cups and dishes from the table. Best worker I ever hired. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 27628598 Canada 11/25/2012 10:00 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Brings a tear to this old man's eye... Quoting: Anonymous Coward 1381928 imagine this country if the politicians and leaders could come together like this forget politicians race and religion that shit only serves to divide us. It's stories like Stevie and folded napkins that unite us. do you hear me Trin? FIVE stars OP |
better to give than get User ID: 28484670 United States 11/25/2012 10:02 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
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Hawk-02 Hawk-o-holic User ID: 897951 United States 11/25/2012 10:11 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Not to pee on your parade but this is email fantasy. I like the part where they make the truckers the good guys and everyone else assholes. I'm an actual trucker and in my experience the percentage of asshole in the trucker population is high. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 28476673 and thanks for making me laugh Pickle Suprise! |
AKObserver User ID: 28430921 United States 11/25/2012 10:13 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | If only we spent as much time and effort being kind as others spend being ugly think of the possibilities! Thank You for posting. Last Edited by AKObserver on 11/25/2012 10:14 PM |
dieoff User ID: 6145585 United States 11/25/2012 10:16 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Something for Stevie Claim: Stevie, a young man with Down syndrome, receives generous donation from truckers who frequent the restaurant where he works. Status: False. Is Stevie real, and is his story as related here true? Unfortunately, no — "Something for Stevie" is a work of fiction by author Dan Anderson, published in rpm Magazine for Truckers in November 1998 and reprised in the 2000 book Stories for a Faithful Heart. |
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StormeyGoddess User ID: 22004193 United States 11/25/2012 10:26 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Something for Stevie Quoting: dieoff Claim: Stevie, a young man with Down syndrome, receives generous donation from truckers who frequent the restaurant where he works. Status: False. Is Stevie real, and is his story as related here true? Unfortunately, no — "Something for Stevie" is a work of fiction by author Dan Anderson, published in rpm Magazine for Truckers in November 1998 and reprised in the 2000 book Stories for a Faithful Heart. Still a tear jerker! :-) Hope we all learn a lesson from it, anyway. Be kind to others. "Don't look back, you're not going that way." "As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.” |
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