Server Bill Short chats with regular David Gustafson on Friday at Denny鈥檚. Short, who was homeless for a time as he struggled with addiction, said the random acts of generosity he sees from customers around the holidays lift his own spirits. 鈥淚t kind of brings me back to when people helped me, and it makes me feel good to see people doing that for other people now that I鈥檓 on my feet,鈥 Short said.
Server Bill Short takes a break in between rushes during his shift at Denny鈥檚 on Friday. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e in shock, you know,鈥 Short said of customers鈥 reactions to random acts of generosity from strangers in the restaurant. 鈥淭hey really can鈥檛 believe that somebody would do that for them.鈥
Server Bill Short checks in with regular patron Ted Eastlund and asks if he needs a refill on his coffee. Short, who鈥檚 been with Denny鈥檚 for more than 20 years, said the people he most often sees on the receiving end of anonymous generosity are veterans and elderly couples.
Server Bill Short chats with regular David Gustafson on Friday at Denny鈥檚. Short, who was homeless for a time as he struggled with addiction, said the random acts of generosity he sees from customers around the holidays lift his own spirits. 鈥淚t kind of brings me back to when people helped me, and it makes me feel good to see people doing that for other people now that I鈥檓 on my feet,鈥 Short said.
Server Bill Short takes a break in between rushes during his shift at Denny鈥檚 on Friday. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e in shock, you know,鈥 Short said of customers鈥 reactions to random acts of generosity from strangers in the restaurant. 鈥淭hey really can鈥檛 believe that somebody would do that for them.鈥
Server Bill Short checks in with regular patron Ted Eastlund and asks if he needs a refill on his coffee. Short, who鈥檚 been with Denny鈥檚 for more than 20 years, said the people he most often sees on the receiving end of anonymous generosity are veterans and elderly couples.
Uriah Urioste was enjoying a meal at the Outback Steakhouse with his two young daughters when a random act of kindness from a stranger brought him to disbelief a little over a week ago.
Urioste, a 28-year-old single father and corrections officer, said it was the evening of Nov. 14 when the steakhouse manager came over to his table and discreetly said, 鈥 鈥榊our bill has been taken care of. Someone wanted to pay it forward.鈥 鈥
The gentleman that the manager pointed out to Urioste left before he could thank him, so he took to social media to do so 鈥 making him the second person to post about such an occurrence in the 疯客直播 Fe Bulletin Board group that week. The first person was Shanna Dorman, who, two days earlier, made a post thanking the person ahead of her in the drive-thru line at the Burrito Spot on Nov. 13 for paying for her meal.
According to local managers and servers, these random acts of generosity are a fairly regular occurrence.
Anna Salazar, managing partner of 疯客直播 Fe鈥檚 Outback Steakhouse, estimates she sees similar acts of generosity happen about once a month, and Bill Short, a server at the local Denny鈥檚, said he sees it happen about once a week. Both said the holiday season sparks an uptick in generous spirit but that they witness the acts yearround.
Salazar, who鈥檚 been with Outback for 12 years, and Short, who鈥檚 been with Denny鈥檚 for more than 20, said the folks that they most often see on the receiving end of the anonymous generosity are veterans and elderly couples.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e in shock, you know. They really can鈥檛 believe that somebody would do that for them,鈥 Short said of people鈥檚 reactions to the deed.
鈥淲hen you go out to eat, you鈥檙e paying; you know you鈥檙e paying,鈥 Salazar said. 鈥淪o I think when somebody takes care of it, you鈥檙e like, 鈥楾hat鈥檚 crazy.鈥 鈥
Urioste had a similar reaction, adding he couldn鈥檛 believe it was happening in the moment. Urioste said the experience gave him hope and opened his eyes to the kindness that exists in the community. Urioste also said the moment went beyond gratitude not only for the generosity but for the 鈥減riceless鈥 example the gentleman set.
鈥淢y kids learned from this experience too,鈥 Urioste said. 鈥淪eeing kindness in action taught them valuable lessons about empathy and community.鈥
According to Urioste, kindness is contagious and he is already planning to 鈥減ay it forward鈥 at the next drive-thru he goes to.
Short said he often sees homeless people at the receiving end of generous acts. This resonates with him 鈥 while he has worked as a server for 30 years, 10 of those years were off and on as he struggled with alcohol and wound up homeless.
鈥淚 asked [Manny, the manager] for my job back, and he knows I鈥檓 an experienced server, and we鈥檝e been friends for a long time, so he helped me out and things have been good,鈥 Short said.
The server said one of his best memories of generosity is when a customer brought in three homeless people on a night when it was below zero degrees, bought them food and Denny鈥檚 gift cards and got them a hotel room across the street for a week.
鈥淭here [are] a lot of people in need, so it makes me feel good because people have helped me,鈥 Short shared. 鈥淚t kind of brings me back to when people helped me, and it makes me feel good to see people doing that for other people now that I鈥檓 on my feet.鈥
Short said the only caveat he has is that the streets and drugs are different than they were when he was homeless. He encourages people to best help homeless people by buying them food, water, a place to stay, hygienic items, blankets and clothing, rather than giving them money.
鈥淚 think that everybody deserves help, but what I believe is, for me, when I was homeless, you have to want to help yourself in order to get that,鈥 Short said.
The helpful heroes aren鈥檛 found at just restaurants, drive-thrus and coffee shops. According to Eugene Ytuarte, who has worked in grocery stores for 14 years, the generosity is flowing at the grocery registers as well.
Ytuarte said he has seen people paying for other people鈥檚 groceries 鈥渁 lot, especially during the holidays.鈥
Ytuarte recalled two memorable instances of generosity he has witnessed, including a man who would often buy lottery tickets and use winnings to pay for people鈥檚 groceries and a woman who worked for someone wealthy and one time stopped by the store, randomly selected 10 people and paid for all of their groceries.
Ytuarte said the response is often 鈥渢ears of joy because they鈥檙e handed money that they probably barely have for this, and then when [that happens] they鈥檙e like, 鈥極h my gosh, we get to buy this or this,鈥 because it鈥檚 bills or food.鈥
Ytuarte, Salazar and Short each said witnessing such acts uplifts and adds to the businesses鈥 atmospheres and gives them unique insight into the kindness that lives in The City Different.
鈥淚t鈥檚 there, and I wish everybody had it,鈥 Yuarte said. 鈥淚f more people saw it, maybe more people would do it, but being here to see it, it鈥檚 awesome.鈥
