I saw a man's life saved today

[KansDem]

This morning I stopped by a local restaurant for my usual breakfast. I've been going to this place for over 20 years now. The servers know me as many of them have worked there for as long as I can remember. It must be a pretty good place to work.

I sat down and ordered my usual breakfast burrito. It comes with a side of salsa. It used to come in a bowl but a few years ago the owner, in an attempt to save on costs, had the servers start bringing the salsa in a small, plastic cup. The servers know how much I like a lot of salsa with my breakfast burrito so they continued to bring me the salsa in a bowl (much larger than the cup). I smother my breakfast burrito with the salsa and drench it with Cholula and Tabasco (I'm a spicy kind-of-guy). I tip an extra dollar for this personalized attention, bringing the tip up to roughly 30% (the meal is around $11). I turned 60 in January and qualify for the restaurant's “senior discount.” It saves me a dollar which I add to my standard tip. Now, a buck isn't going to make or break me and it shows the server how much I appreciate the bowl of salsa.

I usually eat at this restaurant once or twice a month. I work one Saturday a month and will usually stop in on that day to treat myself to a breakfast burrito on my into work..

This morning, a gentleman seated at the table next to me got up to leave. He paid his bill, then, as he was walking out, was struck with an illness. I didn't see all that happened but saw that he was sitting on the bench next to the cashier's counter with several of the servers, including my server, helping him. They appeared to be holding him up as he would have fallen to the floor if they weren't there assisting him. The cashier was on the phone calling 911. The servers relayed symptoms to the cashier who passed them on to the 911 dispatcher. I heard them call out “difficulty breathing,” “nauseous,” “minor convulsions” and “blackout.” The cashier then relayed back instructions from the dispatcher which the servers used to assist the man. This line was kept open until the paramedics arrived.

These were restaurant workers. You know? “Restaurant workers?” Those workers who make sub-minimum wage and rely on tips to live on?

The paramedics arrived in just a couple of minutes with their stretcher, oxygen, and emergency medical cases and began tending to the man. The servers then went back to work tending to their customers.

When I left the paramedics were still there while the firetruck waited outside.

I thought a lot about what I had just seen. Even the ill-timed traffic lights characteristic of downtown Kansas City didn't bother me this morning. As I sat at red lights waiting, I thought of what might have happened if the restaurant workers hadn't acted quickly and rationally.

It put things into perspective. In the wake of recent events with crazy white guys killing black teens, or a couple dozen children in India dying from poison in their free school lunches, or 20 American first-graders gunned down by a maniac only to be followed a couple of months later with a “Glorification of the Gun” celebration, or the ongoing voter suppression efforts, or the constant attack on women, immigrants, the sickly, poor, elderly, workers, and students, or the seemingly never-ending insane and just plain stupid remarks coming out of our politicians' mouths, it put things into perspective. It shows that human empathy is indeed strong and unyielding. It showed that humanity trumps all other human characteristics.

I left my server a $20 tip. I figured it's the least I could do. A man's life was saved.

[DainBramaged]

1. These were heroes, not just servers

[ChisolmTrailDem]

2. Bravo to those who helped the man to live to see his loved ones again. Heroes

emerge when and where you least expect them. Your server and associates are real people in real situations and, when it counted most, they stepped up to be the heroes their human nature allows them to be. Please, the next time you see them, tell them what it meant to you to see what they did for that man.

[KansDem]

4. I'm writing the owners a letter...

...telling him and her (husband/wife team) what I saw and commending their staff.

As noted, many of the servers have been there for years. It must be a pretty good place to work.

[Jenoch]

6. Your description sounds

like the guy had a heart attack. I hope the man survived this incident.

I once saw a guy drop to the floor with a heart attack. It was in a school gymnasium for the 'pin' ceremony for nursing students. There must have been 350 nurses (including instructors) in the gym but the guy still didn't make it. My brother's FIL had a heart attack and was dead before he hit the ground.

[tavalon]

40. Sadly, many do not

The survival rate before field AEDs was so low, I don't even want to tell you what it was. AEDS and clot busting drugs have given many more a second chance. While AEDs will do nothing for a brain attack (stroke), the clot busting drugs have been superstars there as well. That's one of the main reasons we want to get people thinking about strokes as things that have a short period of time in which one can actually reverse the effects.

The hospital I work at and many all over the country call codes for both heart attacks and strokes and it's all hands on deck for both because time is of the essence. I don't work in that area anymore but the changes for the good are just amazing.

[geckosfeet]

3. Good on you....

[Safetykitten]

5. Thank you for being that good person.

[Auntie Bush]

7. My daughter relys on tips in the hair profession...so she always sees to it that

everyone in her party pay as much as 30%. She and her husband never miss a chance to tip someone the maximum. I tip more now too...but not 30%...can't afford it.

[heaven05]

8. I

felt a tug at my heart.

[RevStPatrick]

9. Awesome. This reminds me of a conversation I had last night...

95% of all people are pretty good.

We all do bad things occasionally, every single one of us, and we all have some messed up conditioning that will rise to the surface once in a while. But for the most part, 95% of us are all right, and will do the right thing most of the time.

The remaining 5% or so f*ck it up for the rest of us.
We could have a really nice little planet here if it weren't for the few bad apples who drag the rest of us down into the muck with them.

I'm really tired of the muck-livers.
What can we do about them?

[tavalon]

39. Whoo boy, that's as true as it comes

I'm coming out of a really bad tunnel because I let a bad one into my life. I got out, my son got out, but the husband is as ensnared as a fly in a black widow's web. Poor guy. I can and have been mad at him, but mostly I pity him. He clearly has a big old life lesson to learn and he's going to get hurt, probably badly. I hardly recognize him these days. I hope that after his encounter with this bad apple, he'll return to being the sweet guy I remember.

What can we do? I dunno. I ran. But I suspect public shunning and shaming might help with some of them. Not the sociopaths, though. The aforementioned homewrecker isn't a sociopath, so maybe making her wear a scarlet A might help. Maybe not her, but I'd be amused. Unfortunately, I would have to see her with it to be amused and it is a major goal in my life to never, ever see that muck-liver (love that term) again.

[TxDemChem]

10. They did a wonderful job

And thank you for sharing this story. There are true heroes out in the world!

[malaise]

11. A Wonderful post

Rec

[Seedersandleechers]

12. Were you by chance

at the Denny's on Broadway?

[KansDem]

15. Mission

Village Inn

[Seedersandleechers]

16. We're

neighbors brother.
I can see Kansas from my front stairs.

[KansDem]

19. Well, I can see Missouri from mine!

I live near State Line Blvd.

[calimary]

32. State Line Blvd? I grew up a few blocks from there!

Before we moved to California.

Btw - GREAT story, KansDem! Sorta renews one's faith!

[RC]

17. They have Village Inns down here?

Gotta check it out sometime.
There was one a block from where I lived in Fargo. Good food and good service.

[KansDem]

24. *bon appetit*

[lsewpershad]

13. Tears well up

Thanks for sharing.

[SheilaT]

14. Thank you for posting this, and helping

us get some things in perspective.

I have never myself relied on tips, but I try to tip very generously, above 20%. I also almost always only drink water with a meal, and so I tip extra because my bill is lower than if I'd had a couple of drinks, but the server works just as hard.

Or if I order something very inexpensive. A $2.00 minimum always gets put down, although maybe I should raise that to $5.00.

It really does says a lot that so many of the staff have been there a long time. It bothers me a lot that when I eat out I so often see totally different wait staff from one month to the next.

Oh, and on the subject of tipping, I now leave $10.00 for the person who cleans my hotel or motel room, no matter how neat and tidy I might leave it.

I do have a son who does pizza delivery, and he sometimes complains about customers who don't tip. The worst offenders seem to be schools. At the recent end of the school year he delivered a lot of pizzas to schools and many times wasn't tipped at all.

[LittleGirl]

18. I used to be a cook and a waitress

Those people are the hardest working and sincere people I've ever met. The word 'teamwork' should have a photos of people that run a good restaurant. They taught me to be good to people.

Thank you for sharing. I'm so glad I read it. Send this to the networks and see who picks up on it first.
Cheers.

[mountain grammy]

20. thanks for sharing.. nice!

[Le Taz Hot]

21. It's what I don't understand

when people say, "There are no heroes anymore." I say, "Look around you, they're everywhere!"

[sheshe2]

22. Thank you for sharing that

wonderful story with us KansDem!

Kick it!

[Ash_F]

23. I used to work at a restaurant.

Twice I had to use my Red Cross training, from a previous job when I was 14, to save unconscious choking diners. I think learning first aid is important for everyone. 911 operators do their part to coach people on the fly, but that is not as good as a proper class. Still these people did their best and probably saved that man.

Thank you for sharing. We should do for others what we would want to have done for ourselves.

Also we should raise minimum wage. 2.35 a hour for tipped employees is ridiculous.

[lunatica]

25. When I was a waitress I saved a woman from choking

And countless from severe burns due to coffee or hot soups spilling on them.

It comes with the territory. Kitchens are dangerous places and everyone learns to react instantly to someone getting burned. One person plucks the clothes away from the skin so the skin can cool faster while another runs to get a handful of ice to put on the burn while another takes a towel and wipes sticky food off (like clam chowder that sticks to the skin and continued to burn it unless it gets wiped off quickly). You learn to move very fast. I don't remember anyone getting even a second degree burn when they could have if the emergency hadn't been quickly taken care of.

[OneGrassRoot]

26. Huge, gratitude-filled K&R! n/t

[Liberal_in_LA]

27. k&r great story. hope the guy will b ok

[grantcart]

28. It put things into perspective.

You sure did.

Thanks

[tclambert]

29. I'm sure if the Koch brothers were there, they would have helped, too

by giving him a copy of Atlas Shrugged and telling him to fend for himself. And they wouldn't have tipped their server.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

30. Great post, KansDem

We tend to forget all alliances when each other is in peril. This is truly the way we should live every day. We all have differences instead of condemning we should celebrate those small differences.
Really at the bottom of things we all want the same things, a good life, love, security and peace of mind.

Thank you for showing humanity is still ok!

[KansDem]

31. "We tend to forget all alliances when each other is in peril."

So true. I've seen both progressive and conservative bumper stickers on the cars parked in the restaurant lot. Last year I saw both Obama and Romney stickers as well.

It really struck home for me. As you observed, when someone is in peril, alliances are forgotten. The safety and well-being of that someone is paramount.

Really at the bottom of things we all want the same things, a good life, love, security and peace of mind. [font size="1"]So true!

[bbkenn92]

33. Awesome story.

Thanks for cheering me up.

[babylonsister]

34. Great perspective, thank you! nt

[Iwillnevergiveup]

35. KansDem

I can just imagine all the overwhelming emotion you felt when continuing on with your drive to work. I feel that way just reading about it. Great story, great outcome, and we all thank you for posting it. Yes, generous tipping is SO important, and kudos to you for that detail, too.

WORD: don't forget the carwash guys...I about lose my mind when a customer hands over $1.00 to a guy who's just busted his heinie wiping down a vehicle for 15 or 20 minutes. Especially with big SUV's or pick-ups. Usually in the hot sun. Really??? $5 or $6 is called for IMHO.

K&R

[SunSeeker]

36. K & R

[Cha]

37. I'm Grateful for the man's life who was saved today, KansDem..

and you could write for a living!

[tavalon]

38. Sounds like a heart attack or a stroke

or, as we are valiantly trying to get the public to start calling it, brain attack. It really makes a lot of sense because they are the exact same thing happening to two different organs.

Fast action in either case can make or break a life. Good people. Yeah, that $20 tip was worth it. I do hope the man made it.

[tavalon]

41. I've been using your post to throw a smattering of education

around heart attacks and brain attacks (strokes) but I did want to say, you are a gifted writer and you, and everyone who witnessed this mornings event, were given a gift. It's clear you realize that.

Thanks for the beautiful retelling of this story.