And today finally I get to know her name.
As usual I went to McDonald’s to get breakfast for the kids (this time I bought something to go). And then I started the conversation. I asked her name. She gave me hers, and I gave her mine.
Her name is Eka. Eka, my favorite waitress at McDonald’s Pondok Indah.
Saya punya cerita. Dan my friend insists that I post my story here.
Salah satu yang menjadi kebiasaan saya dan keluarga adalah pergi cari sarapan setelah pulang gereja setiap hari Minggu pagi. Biasanya, supaya cepat dan gampang, fast food restaurant menjadi pilihan favorit. Berhubung ada 2 anggota keluarga yang masih belum dewasa, jadilah McDonald’s sebagai pilihan tersering. McDonald’s di Pondok Indah. Kesukaan anak-anak saya adalah Sausage McMuffin. Selalu itu yang dibeli kalau kami pergi kesana untuk sarapan. Sementara saya lama-lama menjadi bosan dengan menu tersebut.
Akhirnya saya pun mulai beralih, mencari pilihan lain yang berbeda. Di sebelah McDonald’s ada KFC. Jadilah saya kesana dan mencoba menu sarapannya. Riser. Enak. Enak sekali. Saya suka banget. Bahkan saya lebih suka riser daripada sausage McMuffin. Tapi anak-anak saya tetap tidak mau beralih dari McDonald’s. So, to compromise, yang selalu saya lakukan adalah ngedrop anak-anak di McD, and let them have their breakfast there. Sementara saya langsung pergi ke toko ayam sebelah dan buy my breakfast there. Sometimes I eat there, other times I bring my food to McD.
Tapi bukan itu yang sebenarnya menjadi pokok tulisan ini. It’s about something else that happened during all that time. Something (still happens sampai sekarang) yang menurut saya sangat interesting. Ada salah satu mbak yang melayani di sana. Si mbak yang sangat baik dan ramah. Menurut saya tingkat keramahan si mbak ini is beyond words. (And I am so ashamed to say that until this very day I still don’t know her name). Dia selalu dengan ramah menyambut dan menyapa saya dan keluarga. Dan saya tahu dia melakukan itu dengan kesungguhan, bukan cuma sekedar menyapa cuma karena itu sudah menjadi tugasnya.
Setiap kali kami datang, dia selalu mengajak berbincang-bincang ringan. Sampai akhirnya dia tahu bahwa kami selalu datang ke sana setelah pulang dari gereja. So her greetings then became, “Baru pulang gereja, bu?” I am just so amazed. Sekali waktu kami ke gereja dengan jadwal yang berbeda. Sapaannya menjadi, “Tumben bu pulang gereja jam segini.” Wow. She noticed. Saat saya datang tanpa suami, dia bilang, “Bapak nggak ikut, bu?” Exceptional. She always makes me feel good when I come. The way she smiles and eagerly comes to serve me like I was her number one customer makes me feel that I am the most important visitor of the day. Mbak di McDonald’s Pondok Indah itu, I think she is entitled to be the Employee of the Year.
And guess what. Thanks to her, I never again go to KFC for breakfast now.
For those who have been waiting for this writing that I have promised, sorry it took so long. Sedikit kesulitan teknis. For a couple of days saya tidak bisa akses ke blog ini.
Anyway, here goes.
Hari Jumat. Hari peringatan Jumat Agung. Hari sudah menjelang malam, kami dalam perjalanan pulang ke rumah. Di jalan kami mampir di warung tongseng dekat rumah. Saya ingat malam itu hujan. Tidak deras, tapi cukup annoying karena hujan seperti itu bisa bikin saya pusing.
Jadi kami memutuskan untuk memarkir mobil di depan warung tongseng dan mengorder dari mobil, supaya tidak harus kena hujan. Setelah mobil diparkir dengan sempurna dan saya buka kaca jendela, tiba-tiba si bapak tukang parkir sudah ada di depan jendela dan menawarkan untuk mengorder tongseng saya. How lovely.
Kemudian sambil menunggu, I decided to get out of the car untuk membeli pulsa untuk bapak. Kebetulan warung pulsa ada di sebelah warung tongseng. So dengan sedikit berbasah-basah, saya lari ke tempat pulsa. Tapi tidak lama kemudian saya baru ingat bahwa handphone saya ketinggalan dan saya tidak ingat nomer telpon bapak. Sedikit kesal saya pun berniat untuk lari kembali ke mobil. Dan tiba-tiba si bapak tukang parkir sudah ada di depan saya dengan payungnya. Wow lagi. Jadi akhirnya saya pun balik ke mobil, ke warung pulsa dan ke mobil lagi, tanpa harus basah-basah. Berkat payung si tukang parkir.
Sampai di situ? Rupanya tidak. Setelah tongseng kami jadi dan diantar ke mobil, kami pun bersiap untuk meninggalkan tempat itu. Just as the car was about to go, tiba-tiba saya lihat si bapak tukang parkir mengeluarkan lap nya dan membersihkan kedua kaca spion mobil kami. WOW. Saya sangat kagum. Saya tidak pernah melihat hal seperti itu sebelumnya. He was truly a man of service.
Ternyata tidak perlu menjadi seorang jenius untuk bisa membuat orang terpana. Small acts of kindness from the heart can change
the world. Terima kasih pak, karena sudah mengajari saya arti melayani.
Selamat Paskah.
Confused with the title I picked? Well, let me just let you in on my little secret. I hate that one ‘fine’ question of “Hi, How Are You?”.
No matter how I have tried to understand the world, it seems that I cannot get it. I have tried to get it in my head that the whole world is just using that fine phrase simply for a greeting-that-means-nothing to fill up that empty awkward few seconds when you meet someone.
But to me, hearing people greet me with “Hi, How Are You?” brings nothing but awkwardness. It makes me feel awkward all over. No matter how much I have tried, I just cannot get used to it. I cannot bring myself to saying the same phrase (which you are supposed to do) every time it is directed to me. Rather, I get so annoyed.
I have once thought of saying something else instead of repeating the phrase back to the originator. I have always wanted to say to them, “How much time do you have? Because it surely will take a hell lot of minutes of your time to tell you how I am feeling right now.”
Will that be annoying? Not as much as how annoyed I get every time people use that fine phrase to greet me.
Don’t know if I have shared this or not. But even if I have, let me just underline again today, my thoughts of abang, my oldest son.
A few times I have my turn of taking the boys to school. And there and then I get to watch my kids step off of the car and also watch all the other school kids do the same morning routine. I always take the time to run my eyes over the sight of all the kindergarten kids at the school lobby.
And there I noticed the big difference. Abang always takes Athan by the hand, holds his hand until they get to Athan’s class. He will then take out Athan’s homework, and put his backpack neatly by all the other backpacks. After making sure that everything is in place for his brother, Abang then walks off to his class.
And all the other kids? Not one I see holds their brothers/sisters hands.
I believe that by doing this Abang sets a very good example for his brother on how we should treat other people with so much love and care.
I’m proud of you, Gavin. Anak Ibu memang hebat.
notes from friends