“Ok, Jessie. Since you’re the new girl around here. You’ll have to take table 13,” Mark said to Jessie. It was her first day as a waitress. As she went to table 13, she saw an old man, looking at the menu.
“It’s just an old man,” she said. “What’s so bad about him?”
“Oh, honey. He’s terrible. So, be prepared. No one here likes to serve him,” Mark said.
“I can handle anything,” Jessie was sure of herself. But she didn’t knew that Mr. Norton was a hard man to handle.
“Ugh, who are you?” The old man said, while Jessie approached to him with a smile.
“I’m Jessie. What will you have to drink today?” Jessie stayed friendly.
“I always have the same thing, and you lot ask me that all the time. Ice tea. But not too cold or too sweet. Two lemon wedges and a straw,” Mr. Norton said.
“Sure. And do you know what you’ll have for lunch?”
“Not yet. Go away and bring me my iced tea!”
Jessie was shocked, as she didn’t expected that behaviour from the old man. Each time she brought an ice tea, the old man complained about something. It was too sweet, then too cold, then he didn’t liked the lemons, and didn’t liked the paper straw.
“We only have paper straws now,” Jessie said.
“Stupid, softy generation. Fine! I want the lasagna,” the old man threw the menu at her. But Jessie kept her smile. It was her first day and Mr. Norton wasn’t going to ruin it. But the complaining continued as the lasagna arrived.
“I should’ve listened,” Jessie said. “Yeah. We’re sorry. But someone has to deal with him,” Mark laughed.
As she needed her job for her five children, she couldn’t let an old man ruin her job. Her husband Bob was working for crazy hours, but it was not enough. Jessie needed to provide too.
But each day was harder than the previous one with Mr. Norton. Years passed, and the grumpy old man kept his behaviour, but Jessie learned to get along with him. The staff was impressed with Jessie, about how she was dealing with Mr. Norton.
They would even talk about life, when he wasn’t complaining, and he would always leave a good tip. One day, there was no money. It was not a normal behaviour for Mr. Norton. But instead of money, Jessie found a key and a note.
“Dear Jessie, thank you for putting up with this old grump for so long. I’m going to a special facility for hospice now, so I won’t be back. This is the key to my house. It’s yours. I’ll leave my lawyer’s card so you can officially arrange everything. Goodbye, dear. P.S. my tea was too sweet, but I didn’t complain. See? My time is coming,” as Jessie read the note Mr. Norton left, she started to cry with shock.
She then called Mr. Norton’s lawyer, and learned the location of the facility to visit him. The old man confirmed that he was the one who left the note.
“But why? What about your children?” Jessie asked.
“My children hate me. I haven’t seen or heard from them in many years. I was grump to everyone in my life for as long as I can remember, and the only person who ever dealt with me with a big smile was you. So, keep that house for your big family. It’s huge. It’s meant for people like you, who can be patient with old things,” Mr. Norton responded.
That weekend, Jessie brought Mr. Norton back to the house, where she was now living with her family. She cared for him, until he passed away few weeks later. As the lawyer said, Mr. Norton’s family didn’t wanted anything, and the only owner of the estate was Jessie.
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