Today is my birthday, and while this may shock you (sarcasm inferred), despite the many years I have roamed this planet, I still have not arrived. To celebrate my birthday, my husband planned a fabulous resort get away. The trip has been absolutely fabulous, until an incident tonight that literally left me spittin’ MAD!
Many of the resort staff are foreign exchange students here for the summer. All of the international employees have been genuinely warm, polite and engaging, it has been a pleasure interacting with them, but one in particular stands out. Our room is on an adult’s only floor and comes with certain perks including four different “snack” times throughout the day; with spreads so lavish that one could make a meal of them. The food and beverages are artfully arranged so that they are both visually appealing and easily accessible. There are always two concierges available to answer questions and offer assistance. The concierges greet guests warmly and quickly offer complimentary beer or wine, all other beverages are self-serve.
The room was empty when we arrived this evening, but two women walked in as we were fixing our plates. They went straight to a table & sat. The concierge offered them beer or wine, one asked for iced tea and the other coffee. And here, in my mind anyhow, is where everything went to hell! ICED TEA SERIOUSLY?!?!?! The complimentary coffee, hot tea, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Sierra Mist, Root Beer, regular or sparkling bottled water, beer, red or white wine being offered were not good enough for you? And to her friend, I saw you walk in here under your own power, so I see absolutely no reason you cannot get the self-serve coffee yourself.
Deep breath. My husband often refers to me as, Rebecca the Righteous, so while none of this directly affected me, I was witness to it so my feathers were definitely ruffled, and it gets much worse. One of the concierges is especially personable, so after he graciously served their off the menu tea and coffee, he asked if they were going to have any of the food items to which one of them replied, “Yes, could you just fix us a little something?” Oh, Lord, did I seriously just hear her correctly? I did, and do you know what Mr. Concierge did? He did something I am not sure I could have done as diplomatically as he, or even at all. He fixed both of them plates and he did it with a genuine smile, not one of those, fake “I really want to hit you” smiles.
The longer we sat there, the angrier I became; at one point tears were literally streaming down my face. Oh the things that went through my mind, not very nice things either. I wanted to jump up, throw my drink in her face, dump her out of her chair and make sure she knew exactly how rude she was! At one point I looked at my husband and said, while this is not a very Christian thing to say, I hope karma comes back around and bites her in the @$$! I was beyond furious, feeling completely helpless that I could not right this wrong when my husband quietly brought me back with these words, “That young man truly understands what it means to be a servant, and he’s serving her regardless whether she deserves it or not.” Whoosh! In that moment, all righteous indignation evaporated.
In Matthew Jesus tells us, “Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not be served.” I have no idea if that young man is a believer or not, but in that moment, he reminded me what true servanthood is really about. That woman did not deserve what that concierge gave her; however, he chose to embrace a higher calling, one that I am sure will take him far.
Becky J Miller
“Warrior Princess”