Father and son
Father and son
(If you like this story there are tons more here. You can also find a whole bunch of different books I’ve written right here. So, you’ve got a whole lot to enjoy. Check them out please. Thank you.)
George Jensen was a thirty-five-year-old accountant. His son John was thirteen. It was Saturday night at the Jensen home and that meant Pancake Night! But there were no pancakes. Someone had forgotten to buy the mix. So, George and John went to the Jewel Food Store to get some fresh orange juice and pancake mix.
Beauty O’Banyon, George’s stunning wife texted him. “Pick up some sliced cheese.”
He didn’t know where it was and Jewel is a big store.
“Dad, this is the sausage aisle. There is no cheese here.”
“Ok.”
George was distracted. While cruising the sausage aisle he was considering where in the fridge he could hide a couple of lovely dry rubbed deli sausages from Beauty. She thought they were bad for his cholesterol. George thought his cholesterol was just fine. And those tasty sausages in their aged brown paper and with that picture of Christopher Columbus looked pretty good.
“Excuse me. Can you tell me where I can find the sliced cheese?” He asked a fat employee as she hurried past them.
“I’m off the clock!” She bustled past them.
Young Johnny’s mouth fell open. Did this wench actually just diss his pops?
“Dad, this lady was really rude to you. We should tell the manager.”
“She should be punished!”
Dad said nothing. They found the cheese and got in the check out line. The rude girl was in the line over. She saw them then looked away.
“It’s her dad!”
“I know.”
“Look at her! She’s embarrassed to even look at us. “
In the car George finally responded. “You said the rude lady should be punished. She already is being punished.”
“No, she’s not. She got away with being rude and a terrible employee. We should have her fired.”
“No. She’s punishing herself. She knows what she did was wrong. That’s why she wouldn’t look as us. What kind of employee is she John?”
“A terrible one.”
“You met her for a moment and figured that out. Don’t you think her boss who has to work with her every day knows she is terrible? She is lazy, hardly does what she is asked. She is rude and angry and when the annual review comes around, she already knows what kind of a raise she will get. Life is unfair. She should be rich and have all the fine things all those rich people have but don’t deserve. She deserves them. She’s not willing to work hard. To go the extra mile. To treat people with kindness and love. The very love she is hungry for. She doesn’t know it yet but she is at the top of her career. She will never go any farther or ever make more money other than the mandatory bottom of the barrel raise the union says she should get. And she’s angry at that too.
“She doesn’t even deserve it! I hope I never have to work at Jewel.”
“No. It’s an important job. If she didn’t stock the shelves, we couldn’t get our pancake mix and cheese.”
“And your secret sausages…”
“You mean our secret sausages don’t you paleface?”
“Z’actly.”
“She has an important job. Keep the store up so people can get what they need and make meals for their family. And the guy bringing in the carts, and the guy slicing the baloney. Every job is important even if it doesn’t pay well. It’s important that whatever we do we do it well and honor God with our service to him and to his people. But there’s one more lesson son.
“What is it pops?”
“Always treat people with love.”
“And you might get a better raise?”
“And they might share their sausages with you.”
The End.