A few weeks ago I was having a business breakfast at the iHOP on 183 @ Duval, Austin, Texas. Our waiter was a very delightful gentleman who seemed very professional and very likeable. During the time that he was serving us, somewhat out of the blue, the conversation about doing good deeds evolved. At the time I thought it was quite remarkable that a waiter at a house of pancakes would seem so committed to doing acts of goodness. I was soon to find out how wrong I was. On June 16th I took the opportunity to recognize Tim who goes by the e-mail name of “Darthwaiter713”, and the following is my recognition of Tim:
“Tim, I want to recognize you for making my and Larry’s breakfast experience at IHOP so enjoyable. Your conversations about people doing good was very inspirational. I know that you are a very sincere person who enjoys serving people and making their morning breakfast such a pleasurable experience. I hope that you will accept this recognition with honor.”
On June 17th I received Tim’s e-mail reply below:
“I find myself both profoundly humbled and proud in the very same breath. If you will allow, as I run across the many extremely gracious and giving people it has been my pleasure to both serve and observe, I will bring them to your attention. Since a large part of my life is involved in feeding people, one of my very private charities is on occasion to quietly feed the homeless in as anonymous a way as I can possibly manage. Usually this is accomplished by simply handing off my employee meal to one of what I call my “lost boys” as I walk home. I don’t eat at work anyway, it slows me down, so it is not a loss to me. If you could, it would please me to see more hungry people fed in the course of this extremely noble undertaking of yours. Thank you for the recognition from the bottom of my heart. Tim “waiter” Burgess”
It took a couple of weeks for me to secure Tim’s permission to tell his story. We also received permission from Tim’s Supervisor, Jon at iHOP, to take a picture of Tim with his iHOP apron on. For me, this is one of those incredible stories that exemplify the Austin Community Spirit of Goodness that go unrecognized every day. It is the essence of the RecognizeGood Program itself. Tim would probably disagree with the level of importance that I have placed on his acts of kindness and would probably just as soon remain anonymous. However, Tim has graciously allowed me to tell his story to the Austin Community and beyond. It is a story that the people of Austin should be proud of, knowing that there are tens of thousands of good deeds like Tim’s being committed by these wonderful people of Austin every day. Collectively, these acts of kindness and charity are the source and essence of our community spirit that identifies and defines us. God bless Tim for allowing us to tell his story and being an outstanding member of our community!
John Bosch Jr.