Service With a Smile and Hazelnut Coffee

My BFF, Sheila Michie and I were doing some event brainstorming at Panera Bread yesterday. "Bonus for me" -- I had told Sheila, "I love their Hazelnut coffee, so, a large one, please!" How precious it was when one of their servers, Ein, brought our food to our table. But that wasn't all he brought -- he brought us his gracious heart. There was a connection right away. A few minutes later, he was back -- asking if we needed anything else. The next time around when Ein asked, I asked him if he'd take our photo (thus, the photo here). "Great job, Ein!" -- I responded. And Ein's reply back to me, "Thank you, Cupcake!" LOL! Well, that caused Sheila and I to break into smiles that went from ear to ear. I said, "I think that's the first time I've been called Cupcake since Ron went to heaven!" LOL! Later when I got up to get a coffee refill, Ein saw me and grabbed my cup out of my hand and said, "I'll get it for you!" I replied "Thanks so much! Be sure it's the Hazelnut -- it's my favorite!" He said, "Mine, too!" Sheila and I continued our conversation, and way more than enough time to refill my drink, Ein returned with a big smile on his face, "Here's you're coffee! You're gonna' love it. I fixed it up for you. I added cinnamon and honey to it!" LOL! My first thought -- "Oh no. He's destroyed my Hazelnut coffee and how can I possibly throw it out?" But, it was delicious! I'll remember that next time. Sheila and I were on the brink of outloud laughter when I asked "Ein, could I get a photo with you? You are such a fine man and I'd like to remember you." Ein promptly sat down beside me in the booth, put his arm around me and said, "Sure, Sweetheart!" And, gave the "heart" sign on his chest. And to Sheila he said, "You're Sugar!" I said, "You're a lady's man, aren't you?" His response: "Yes I am!"

Whoohoo! Ein was flirting with us. <3 We loved it. We needed that great time of a "merry heart". It was definitely medicine to us.

I started thinking about this sweet man who exuded love in the purest form -- an unconditional love. A man that earns an honest day's wages for an honest day's work. Just look at all those "good employee" pins on his hat. That's for a reason. He does his job well, and he's learned the art of excellent customer service. The more we complimented him and the great service he was giving us, the more he responded with doing more. We saw a beautiful soul in Ein today. Ein exuded love with no inhibitions. He wasn't sizing us up to see if we were worthy of his attention. He had plenty of love in him to share with others. He thought one thing. "I have love to share and I'm sharing it."

Ein was a perfect example of the art of loving and giving. We do a lot of talking and complaining about how life treats us, then along comes the Eins of the world and they make us realize "the greatest of these is love". Oh, that we had that unconditional, extravagant love that loves and serves so well.