RAoK

Ok, so this may not be a big deal to some of you, but apparently I have emotional stability problems today, so it almost made me cry.

At work today, our gelato-maker, Allesandro, stopped in with a delivery.  He's a really nice guy- only came to the US from Italy 5 years ago and speaks adorable English.  (For example, he says my name "Bree-knee" and calls our small storage shed out back "the garage.")  I was working with my boss, J, and another dude, A.  When Allesandro got there, we all exchanged pleasantries, and I stayed out on the floor to help customers while the guys put away the gelato order in the back room.  A few minutes later, a customer ordered a panini, so I went in the back to grill it.  The back door was propped open, and I could see my boss sitting in his car and Allesandro kneeling on the ground.  I stared curiously until Allesandro caught me and yelled, "Bree-knee!  I am putting air in your tire!"

I was extremely confused at first, until J waved at me from his car and gestured to the dashboard.  It took me a moment to realize that J was powering some sort of air compression system through his lighter/adaptor, and Allesandro was pumping air into my back tire with it.  I was floored.  I don't know why, but my eyes welled up with tears.

Allesandro, still crouched next to my car, continued shouting;  "Is dangerous, you know!  You are so low, you gonna make a turn and blow it up!"  I felt the need to apologize and explain that while I may have suddenly become responsible in some areas of my life, taking proper care of my car wasn't one of them.  (I was also too embarrassed to admit that coworker A had warned me that my tire was getting low...2 months ago.)  He brushed me off and went back to work.

I stumbled out to coworker A and began to whine.  He was confused.  I said, "I'm not used to this!  I'm not used to people doing nice things for me like this!"  He rolled his eyes and shook his head.  (I was being a bit of a basket case over this seemingly every day situation, if you couldn't tell.)  Now listen, I'm not going to sit here and say no one does anything nice for me.  I think I've told you about my generous mother a time or two.  I'm always very grateful when BRO or BIL take the dogs out an extra time because I don't feel like it.  My aunt sends me care packages filled with candy and money.  And it's great to have a friend buy me a drink once in a while.  But for these two people, my boss and Allesandro, who I barely know, to do this for me?  I didn't know what to say.  This is in absolutely no way meant to be a negative thing, but I cannot imagine one person I know back in Buffalo doing something like that for me.  It's just not something you think about.  So for them to look at my tire and make the conscious decision to take moments away from their work schedules to ensure that I was safe was almost too much for me to handle.  Drama queen, much?

Moments later, I wandered back outside to see that they were now filling ALL of my tires with air.  Ugh.  I thanked them profusely, to the point that it got embarrassing.  It was no big deal for them.  And then Allesandro said, "Bree-knee, we do this for people we care about.  We no want you to get hurt."  UGH!

The moral of the story, kids, is to check your tires for air.  Or maybe it's that little random acts of kindness can go a long way.  Or maybe I need to get more sleep before my morning shifts so that I don't turn into a blubbering idiot when my boss offers to make me a coffee or give me a five minute break.  I don't know.  But today was the first time I felt like I was truly cared about in this city.  And it felt friggin' great.