Thank You Sooo Much Guy

What I observed:
This has been a strange week for me. We're talking Twilight Zone strange. I keep having epiphanies and experiencing strange and awkward situations. It's only fitting, then, that tonight was not an average Thursday night at work. At my place of work, Thursdays are normally very busy. I usually make some of my best money on the night shift, but tonight was a slow night and it brought a lot of strange people in.

I want to be clear that I am not complaining about this table. They were more than polite (as you will see), and very easy to deal with.

There was one man at the table, but there were two sets of silverware. Since he was obviously waiting for someone to join him, I asked him, "Can I get you a drink while you're waiting?" He asked for a water, and upon receiving it, he smiled, stared into my eyes with an intensity that I am not used to seeing, and said, "Thank you sooo much." His voice was not velvety or sexy. It was not "gay", it was not low and manly. It was just an average voice. I told him, "No problem. I'll check back when the rest of the party arrives." The other guy showed up and ordered a Coke. I brought him one, and when I gave it to him, the first guy said, "Thank you sooo much."

For the next thirty minutes or so that is the only thing I heard from this table: "Thank you sooo much." It was the intensity with which this guy looked at me when he said it, however, that had me really intrigued. Having read some of the Sookie Stackhouse books and all of the Twilight books, I was secretly hoping that this guy was a vampire who was trying to "dazzle" me and drink my blood. My second thought, and the more likely of the two to be true, was that this guy needed me to see and understand how genuine he was for some reason. I'm particularly interested in this table because this is something I've noticed about others as well. For some people (me), there is nothing worse in the world than having somebody dislike them.

This customer's tip upheld my hypothesis. Thank You So Much Guy (TYSMG) is a people-pleaser extraordinaire!

What I imagine:
TYSMG was born near the town that my restaurant is in. He came from a large, happy family. Although he got along well with his brother and sisters (he had one brother and two sisters), he was closest with his grandmother. His grandmother was a strong woman who had grown up during the Great Depression. Like many from her era, she was a hard worker and had many opinions. She and TYSMG would spend afternoons together in the summertime; her pulling weeds while TYSMG read books under the giant tree in her backyard. TYSMG's grandmother would make iced tea and cookies for him and ask him about the books he was reading. His favorites were adventure books. TYSMG dreamed of exploring the world and discovering new places and creatures.

During the winter months, TYSMG would sit in his room and write. Sometimes he would write short stories; sometimes he kept a journal. It depended on the year and his current mood. TYSMG was indeed a dreamer. Although one might think that TYSMG would be the type to isolate himself, he made friends rather quickly. He and his closest friend, Jake, were inseparable. When they couldn't hang out, they spent their time writing, exchanging their stories at a later date.

As Jake and TYSMG grew older, they began to realize that they came from very different backgrounds and that they had very different views. TYSMG came from a liberally minded family. His parents both voted "democrat" straight down the ticket. They were well-to-do, very opinionated, and open-minded to the point of close-mindedness. TYSMG's parents were a force to be reckoned with. His mother judged people quickly when they didn't agree with her, and although his father was more even-tempered, he was not a man who hid his opinions from others. As you can imagine, TYSMG's parents made a profound impact on him. His parents fully supported his creative endeavors, but as with many children that come from strong-willed parents, he grew even quieter and more introspective.

Jake, on the other hand, grew up on the poor side of town. His parents both had blue collar jobs and had to work very hard for their money. Jake and his family went to church every Sunday. Having lost Jake's younger sister, they turned to religion to help ease the pain and make sense of the tragedy. After his younger sister's death, his family became more and more involved in the church; all of their friends were members. Jake's parents were thus very socially conservative, whereas TYSMG's parents were on the far opposite end of the spectrum.

Sometime in high school, Jake began to rebel, just as TYSMG had become a very quiet, private person. Upon graduation (and his 18th birthday), Jake got the first tattoo of many. TYSMG, having gone off to college out of state to major in English Literature, did not disapprove of Jake's rebellion, but he did worry that Jake would come to regret his decisions.

TYSMG continued to write in college; so did Jake. Although they were in different states, they kept in close contact. In the meantime, TYSMG also stayed in close contact with his grandmother. They had only grown closer over the years, and TYSMG made at least two trips outside of the holidays every year to visit her. During one of his visits in his senior year, his grandmother delivered some bad news. She had been diagnosed with a heart problem, and at her age the surgery was more likely to kill her than the disease. The doctors expected that she had a few more months left before her heart gave out. TYSMG was devastated, but determined not to waste the remaining time he had with his grandmother. They had long conversations in her garden in the afternoons, and she told TYSMG countless stories about his mother's childhood and adolescence. One day, she said to him, "Your mother has always been tough, but she was never the same after your grandfather died. She grew colder and harsher after that. I love your mother a lot, but I want you to learn from her mistakes. Don't take your frustrations out on the world around you, TYSMG."

TYSMG's grandmother died eight weeks later. It was his mother that delivered the news. TYSMG's world was turned upside down. He withdrew from the world he had known as a child and as a teenager. TYSMG took some time for himself after college, almost completely isolating himself from his friends and family. He found a part time job that paid enough for him to get by, and he spent his nights writing in his apartment. After two years of work, he was ready to send his novel out for publishing; he had written a fictionalized account of his grandmother's life.

TYSMG began to think about what his grandmother had said to him, and decided to contact those closest to him, whom he hadn't seen since the Christmas break before his grandmother's death. Jake had graduated with a degree in English Literature and a minor in business, and to TYSMG's surprise, he was now working for a publishing company in New York City. Jake was very happy to hear from TYSMG, and refused his offer to come to New York for a visit. Jake insisted that they meet near their hometown, and suggested that they both find a good time to visit their families and coordinate travel plans. He was very interested in looking at TYSMG's draft, having been whisked away by nostalgia for the days when he and TYSMG exchanged stories. On his trip back to his hometown, the words of TYSMG's grandmother reverberated in his head. He vowed that he would never blame others for his misfortune, no matter how bad his day had been; he would never fail to show his appreciation for the good things in life.

Later that night, TYSMG and Jake met at Anonymous Restaurant & Bar to talk things over, and that is how I came to have a quiet, gracious man eating a veggie burger and a tattooed meat-eater in my section this week.