Strangers at the Café

One morning, my boyfriend and I were having breakfast at a small café in Bellevue.  We’re very much the stereotypical college couple.  We work and do alright for ourselves, but we need to live on a fairly strict budget in order to make money at the end of the month.  However, my boyfriend likes to spoil me, so we decided to go to breakfast as a special treat.  We sat down and immediately started talking away.  I had been out of town for a week, and my boyfriend was recounting what he had eaten that week—mainly cheese sandwiches, because they were cheap and easy, and our apartment at the time didn’t have a kitchen.  I then started talking about how I couldn’t get my scholarship money for the next academic year because of an annoying and bureaucratic technicality.

We didn’t think anything of our conversation, just happily finished our breakfast.  The restaurant was fairly crowded, so when we didn’t receive our bill, we figured the waitress was just swamped.  We continued to wait, and a few more minutes passed by.  Still no check.  A few more minutes, still nothing.  We flagged down our waitress and asked her if we could have our bill.  She laughed and gave us a surprised look.

“Didn’t I tell you,” she said.  “That couple at the table across from you already paid it.”

The two strangers must have heard our financial complaining and decided to help out a young couple.  It was so considerate and thoughtful.  Whoever you are, thanks so much.