I just got back from ordering a sandwich at Subway. I’m still feeling warm and gooey, and that’s not from the melted pepperjack cheese.
While standing in line, I notice that the man in front of me is wearing a Los Angeles Dodgers shirt. One thing leads to another and we’re talking about the Dodgers’ record and then the Cleveland Indians’ win streak, and how that makes me sad to see the Detroit Tigers faring so poorly. He proceeds to tell me that his step-son’s favorite player is from the Tigers–Miguel Cabrera–and that a few years ago, they got seats very close to the Tigers’ dugout. He says his step-son was wearing a Venezuelan hat, because his dad was Venezuelan, and Miggy saw this, came over, and signed the hat. I ask how old the kid was at the time and he said 11 or 12. I tell him how I can only imagine how I would have felt at 12 having such a connection with my favorite player.
After I order my sandwich, I sit at the high-top table, right in the middle of the small restaurant. I’ve been noticing a man who was in line and who sounded British as he asked for his “red onions.” A few moments later, he goes to the register to pay and I hear that his credit card chip is not working. I recall how annoying it can be to travel and not have your card work. He tells the Subway employee that his chip never works and that he’ll need to sign. The employee shakes his head, basically saying that it only works with the chip. The British man, in frustration, says, “Well, I can’t take it then,” and heads out of the restaurant without his sandwich. Before he reaches the front door, the next woman in line grabs his attention and says, “I’ll pay for your sandwich.” The man is floored. He goes from frustration to gratitude and a bit of embarrassment, trying to hand over the $2 he has in his wallet. “This is all I have, please take it.” The man graciously leaves the store, as the lady pays for his sandwich. I see him run off to the back of the parking lot, thinking that not only did his card not work, but he is in a hurry! I go back to the sandwich, because, hunger. And then I notice him back in the store, with a hurried and somewhat desperate look on his face. He finds her. He runs up to the lady, who is still paying, and says to her, “I want you to have this. This is my album that will be coming out in the US in March of next year. I want you to have this.” Her face lights up. “Will you sign it?” And the Subway clerk hands him a red Sharpie pen and he proceeds to sign the CD. After he leaves the store and the lady is done paying, I go up to her and thank her for doing that. She says to me, “The same thing happened to me before and someone helped me out.”
I went to Subway to feed my stomach and in the process I also fed my heart.