He had to stoop down to see me, but he did. A tall man, he had to look by the 'sneeze guard' to see me sitting in my chair.
I was placing an order for an omlette at one of those breakfast buffet things that hotels have. The guy cooking the omlette was quite chatty as he took my order and began working on a personallized breakfast for me. Turns out he's only there for one more morning and then is moving down to the grill for the summer. The hotel is right on the beach in Orange Beach and I said that working the outside grill would be awesome. He agreed.
He said that for 7 years he'd worked as a night chef and didn't get much of a chance to meet the guests and he enjoys working in areas where he can meet the people who eat his food. "There's not much point in being in the service industry if you don't enjoy meeting the people," he said. By the time I had my breakfast a small line had formed behind me and I could hear him chatting with others as he took their orders.
A couple tables away I heard two women talking, they were both wearing the name tags given out by the conference. They had obviously got the same story from the chef but one of them was really upset. From what I gathered she was in senior management in an organization serving people with disabilities but that she had also stopped meeting the people she served.
"That damned chef," she said with a teary voice to her friend, "shows me up. I've forgotten the basics."
They chatted and I could hear resolve in her voice, I think she was going to go back and be a very different person.
Later I met her again after she'd attended one of my sessions at the conference. She told me that she'd come to the conference to hear me speak. I was flattered but said, "But you had the great good fortune of hearing what the chef had to say."
She looked embassased for a moment but I said, "Listen, we learn from whom ever is sent ... isn't there as saying something like, 'when the student is ready, the teacher appears'.
So the teacher's a chef.
As long as the lesson is learned.
Sometimes you pay to learn, other times you just need to pay attention.
"Sometimes you pay to learn, other times you just need to pay attention.>
ReplyDeleteTHOSE words are going in my list of "Quotes of Note."
I love them. Thank you! Loved the story and the point of it too.
Dear Dave- That darned Belinda!! In Cockney we would call her a "tea-leaf"-thief. She stole my thought! Down to the very last word! Anyway, great food for thought,today,Dave-pun intended.Frances
ReplyDeleteHow did you get so smart?
ReplyDeleteLisa
Nice thought for the day Dave. Thank you. I feel like I am always learning. I love it best when I can learn from the people I support. I read a lot and try to learn more to help me do my job better. (I have learned a lot from my daily fix of Dave's blog too! thanks) your comment about needing to just pay attention is so right. Just as you think you have it sussed by reading and training etc etc then someone goes and has a real life... and I learn all over again!
ReplyDeleteI used to have the honor of studying under a stunningly gifted teacher. He taught karate, but looking back he really taught life. At one point I was telling him how much I admired his ability to teach and he corrected me subtly by saying, "You can learn from watching two dogs fighting."
ReplyDelete