This post is not about running. But it’s still important. GASP!!
There’s a ton of stuff in the news these days that’s just a shit storm.
Police brutality. ISIS. Forest fires. Ashley Madison outing 37 million people having marital affairs. Jared Fogle doing unspeakable and disgusting things (yes, I did interview him a few years ago for this blog when he was going to run the NYC Marathon – he seemed nice at the time. Apparently “seemed nice” does not tell nearly the whole story. He and his big fat weight loss success story can go make some friends in the shower. Don’t pick up the soap! And don’t expect there to be any of your sweet onion chicken teriyaki in the slammer).
My point is not to bring you down with all of the above crap. My point is I wanted to share with you something that makes us remember there is good stuff that goes on too. Because there is and yet it doesn’t make the news very often.
Ken and I love this new pub that has opened in town. It has a name – “The Longs Peak Pub and Taphouse,” but as it has become our place to go we now just call it “The Pub.” We are so cool. He gets the Monterrey Chicken Sandwich, I get the Speakeasy Steak Sandwich. He gets the Annapurna amber ale and I get a glass of chardonnay from the tap. The kids get nothing because they are usually not invited.
That is not us sitting at the bar.
Why do we like The Pub so much? It’s inexpensive. It’s a local spot. The atmosphere is mellow. The fries are off the chain. When you wait for a table you get free fries and sometimes free beer. The employees work as a team and everyone does everything and the tips are split.
But, the reason we love it the most? Let me tell you.
The Pub does not take credit cards. In this day and age when even lemonade stands take credit cards, this is unusual. Why do they do it? To keep costs down. Makes sense.
So, when you go to the Pub you have to remember cash or your checkbook. If you don’t, well that’s okay. Enter…the Karma envelope.
Here's the deal. If you don’t have money to pay for your meal, you take a karma envelope. You don’t give your name or phone number. You just take it with the intention of sending the money for your bill in the mail when you can. Doesn’t matter if your bill is $5 or $50. No questions asked. And, guess what the success rate is? 80%.
That means for every 100 people that do the karma thing, 80 actually pay the restaurant back. Did you need me to tell you that? Probably not. I just like explaining percentages to myself.
So, you might be thinking that this works because The Pub is in some small town in the middle of nowhere where everyone knows everyone. Nope.
My city – Longmont - has about 100,000 people and has its share of ugly stuff that goes down (unfortunately I know this all too well being a social worker here – drugs, gangs, theft, sex assault are more prevalent than I care to acknowledge). Anyway, this “karma” system doesn’t work because this is some safe and insulated place to live.
The karma thing works because people today still do have a conscience. People still do care about doing the right thing. It becomes less about “getting away with something” and more about stepping up when no one is looking or keeping tabs.
You know that saying, “Character is what you do when no one is watching”? Yep, that applies here.
Basically when someone trusts you so inherently to do the right thing and believes in you to do the right thing, it is harder and harder to let them down. Or, that’s my take on it.
Granted, there are still 20% of people who don’t pay The Pub back. A-holes. I doubt they are the kind of people who sit around feeling guilty about that. They are the same kind of people who hit a car in the parking lot when no one is looking and simply drive off. Or the kind of people who let their dog lay a huge turd in my yard and don’t clean it up. There will always be those people, but in this case they are the minority.
Good outweighs the bad. That’s what matters. Now come visit me and I’ll treat you dinner at the Pub (wink, wink).
SUAR
