Thanks To You

When was the last time you’ve felt that somebody was really thankful for something that you’ve done or said? What I mean is that when the word “Thank you” was uttered, you felt in your heart that the person was really sincere in saying that and is truly grateful to you. Well, I haven’t in years. Since this word has been so habitually spoken, sad to say that the essence and true meaning of this word is lost. Let’s admit it sometimes we just say it because it seems to be just appropriate to say ‘Thank you” every time somebody does us a favor but not because we truly mean it. I never thought that someone like JR, one of our food servers in the canteen, will show me what a real “Thank you” really is.

JR has been in our office canteen for some months already. He cheerfully does his job by taking our food orders and delivering it to our cubicles. JR is an actual depiction of service with a smile because he never fails to give us one of his radiant ones whenever he brings the food to us. You see, we suddenly became so lazy to go up a few flights of stairs to personally order the food and since they just opened their delivery service just recently we took advantage of it. We suddenly became so sedentary already that’s why we are getting plumper and plumper everyday. That’s the price that we have to pay for being almost lethargic. Serves us right, huh?

One fateful time, as I was talking to JR on the phone and going on our usual routine of taking note of our orders for lunch, I heard a voice of a very angry woman shouting invectives and insults to someone. I stopped talking for awhile but since I thought that it might just be a part of the crew’s friendly banter, I went on with our order taking. After a couple of minutes, JR went down with our food in hand but this time there was no smile on his face. He looked haggard and quite sad. He left without saying anything. I thought maybe he’s just a little too tired that’s why he was so quiet. An hour has passed when he came back and decided to talk to me. He said that when we were on the phone and I heard a lot of shouting, it was him that was being shouted at. He said that his superior was shouting at him for the petty mistake of exchanging the P500 bill to P1.00 at the bank instead of P5.00 as instructed to him. He even admitted his error and promised to rectify it by going back to the bank but his superior did not accept his humble apology and even made it worse by shouting profanities at him and threatened to slap him with the coins in front of many people and while we were conversing on the phone. Can you just imagine how JR would have felt to be humiliated and degraded like that in the presence of all the people in the canteen? He was near to tears when he was telling me what happened. He can’t even look me in the eye because of so much embarrassment. But I admired him for being brave enough in mustering all his guts to come to me and ask me if I could help him put a stop to the maltreatment he has been experiencing from his cruel supervisor.

I wrote a letter to their manager telling her what I’ve heard and how JR was treated by his heartless supervisor. JR asked for the help of others who were there too when this untoward incident occurred but they did not even try to lift a finger to help him. Maybe they thought he’s just a food server and this matter can just be easily laughed off and forgotten. Shame on these people! If they think highly of themselves just because they’ve got better jobs and are more educated than JR then they maybe right but JR is a lot more human than them. He’s got the humblest of hearts and sincerest of souls and it makes him a hundred times more honorable than any of them.

I wasn’t around when he got the letter; I ate my ordered lunch in the pantry. I just left it to one of my close friends in the office so I did not have the chance to see his reaction. Late in the afternoon the next day, he went back to my cubicle and he’s already wearing a happy smile on his face bringing with him a white plastic bag. I didn’t know what’s inside it. He wasn’t saying any thing; he just kept on smiling and pushing the plastic bag in my hands. When I finally opened it, there inside the bag was my favorite pasta…spaghetti!

Now, I was the one on the verge of tears because I was so touched! I was not expecting anything in return for the little help that I’ve done for him but he made me feel as if it meant the whole world to him that someone stepped up and defended his plight. I felt different. I felt like I suddenly mattered to the world too, like I’m bigger than my body. I was so happy that I actually experienced a happy rush all over! I was even happier when JR came back the next day along with one of the crews and was thanking me profusely for what I’ve done for them. That in behalf of the rest of the crews, they are thanking me from the bottom of their hearts because not only JR is being treated this way but each and everyone of them. I nearly cried! I didn’t know that I made such a big impact on their lives. I didn’t know that in my own little way I was able to stop one injustice in this world. I’ve learned that there are no small or big injustices; they are all the same, ugly, wrong and wicked. And nobody should ever allow it to happen to anyone whether it’s someone close to you or someone that you’re just acquainted with. Because we are all created equally maybe not in the eyes of men but in the eyes of God we are.

I’m ending this with a heartfelt thanks to people like JR who made a big difference in my life. 

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