On the Expensive Suit and the Cup of Coffee

This week’s book learning is from ‘The Law of the Garbage Truck’ by David J Pollay

David Pollay was busy working on his book at a café close to home. There were few other morning coffee drinkers on the table he was sitting on.

And, as a man was about to sit down on their table, he dropped his large cup of coffee. The coffee splashed all over the newspaper, suit and briefcase of the businessman sitting next to him.

Startled, the businessman stood up. His expensive looking suit had coffee all over it and his briefcase was dripping coffee.

The man who dropped the cup began apologizing. His face was flushed and his ears were red with guilt and embarrassment. Everyone at the café turned to look.

The businessman smiled kindly and said ‘At least I like the smell of coffee.’

Both men laughed loud and hard and within moments, everyone around them had joined in. They grabbed some napkins and started wiping the mess..

David Pollay, of course, added this example into his book as a perfect example of a man who responded to an unfortunate accident with kindness and a wonderful sense of humour – transforming an incident that could have ruined both their days into a wonderful learning experience for all.

I was very inspired by this story. Lately, I’ve been appreciating the power of humour in tough situations. And this story is a wonderful reminder that unfortunate accidents happen that hurt us one way or another.

A touch of kindness, understanding and humour goes a long way. The difference between a mountain and a molehill is our perspective, after all.

Here’s to lots of kindness, understanding and humour this week!

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Note: To all subscribers of Good Morning Quotes, I’m having some technical issues here in Rome and hope I’ll be able to get back to normal service shortly. The key, of course, is hope.. :-)