PUI (parking under the influence)

I take my work very seriously...I try to give great customer service, very friendly and good quality food....and though try as I might, I really haven't gotten any kind of positive feedback on my company's website to be recognized like I have desired.

Sometimes we get recognized not for our efforts but just by what happens in the journey.

I was working the overnight shift this past weekend and that means many drunk customers...some happy drunks, some goofy drunks and some angry hungry drunks.  When the bars close they all come for food.  It makes for interesting and crazy stories. I've even had customers who thought they were driving and swerving all the while they were not even in a car...simply crazy times.

I could see the nose of a car out the corner of my peripheral vision parked half in my drive through lane and half in the exit lane.  The problem was that because the driver occupied some of each lane I couldn't serve anyone as nobody could get around him on either side.  I could see that the driver's window was down so I tried yelling out to him to get him to move.  There was no response.  I screamed my loudest...no response.

I unlocked the doors and locked my crew safely inside and went out to investigate. I approached cautiously to the side of the car...wrote down the make, model, color and plate number.   I tried talking, yelling, and literally banging on the top of the man's car repeatedly while yelling as loud as I could. This went on for about ten minutes.  He was out cold...car running, with only his foot on the brake to hold him in place while he slept.

Eventually I gave up attempting to awaken him and called in the police.  The moment they put on their sirens it startled him enough to wake him up which caused him to take his foot off the brakes and race  across the street into McDonalds where they stopped him and put him in jail for the night to sleep it off.

I wondered who he was and how did his friends let him drive this way?...what was the story behind the story....I had no time to think about it for long because I had to get back to work.

I didn't give it much further thought until last night.  My store received a complimentary e-mail on the company website yesterday. My boss called me to read it to me.  It read "I want to send out my thanks to the employee who called the police on me the other night.  They saved my life.  I was impaired and in no condition to drive. I endangered others lives and my whole future.  I am to be married in 45 days and I have my whole future in front of me...I almost threw it all away.  Again, I am in no way angry at whoever made the call...they should be commended for acting quickly and properly as it probably saved my life that night.  I appreciate Krystal more now than ever before."

Kind of amusing that my most distinguished moment at this job seems to be a moment I find very small and less than exceptional and seemed to have nothing to do with the job description.

Now to the point---why mention all of this?   I hope this man comes to live a GREAT STORY. The story needs to be more than DUI or PUI...lives are a one shot deal and they need to be lived out boldly and intentionally.

What do I mean by that?  It's what Don Miller would call a chance to change the story and live in a better story.... one with an incredible ending yet to be written.

My wife Michelle loves photos that have paths that twist and turn and show the infinite possible turns our lives and story can take.  So many choices...so many possibilities...it's what makes life special.