Miserable or Happy, It's Your Choice

I’d like to share a little personal story with you. It takes place at one of Canada’s favorite drive-thru and with three characters: Mr. Miserable, Mr. Happy, and myself. We all live busy lives and sometimes we’re cranky or stressed out, especially during a fragile time like this when the entire world is going through a pandemic. At the end of my story, I’d like you all to ask yourselves, “Lately, have I been acting more like Mr. Miserable or Mr. Happy?” 

And the story starts:

Yesterday, I went to grab some lunch at the Tim Hortons’ drive-thru. As I was entering the parking lot, I got a bit distracted and accidentally missed the drive-thru line where you order your food so I went straight into the line where people were waiting for the food that they already ordered. I skipped an entire step - by accident. Yes, I agree that I was completely my fault because I should have been more cautious. So I looked in my rear-view mirror, shifted to reverse and started backing out. At the exact same time, a red pickup truck appeared as I was backing out. I started slowly reversing but the red pickup truck or shall I refer to him as “Mr. Miserable” decided to stay put and gave no intention to move back and let me proceed out of the way.

I admit I was annoyed by Mr. Miserable’s actions and I had no choice but to move forward to the pick up window. I realized I’d just wait till I got to the window, tell the Tim Hortons’ employee that I missed the wrong window and then go back in line to the order window. Time consuming but I didn’t really have a choice. 

A few minutes later, while I was waiting for my turn at the pick up window, a young man, I’ll refer to him as Mr.Happy, showed up right by car and asked if he could just step ahead of me to do a “walk-by” order and grab a quick coffee. I nodded at him and let him proceed to the window to grab his coffee. In response, he gave me a kind smile. Seeing someone smile is one of those small things that can really make your day better. 

As I was waiting for Mr. Happy to grab his coffee so I could drive past the pick up window and back into the line to proceed to the drive-thru, I opened my window. As I opened my window I heard Mr. Happy telling the Tim Hortons’ employee that he’d like to pay for my order. What a kind gesture!

I happily thanked Mr. Happy for his gesture. With the biggest smile on my face, I drove out of Tim Hortons with my meal. Mr. Happy really made my day and I would definitely share my positive community experience with my family and friends for the next few days. 

Now back to my question, would you rather be Mr. Happy or Mr. Miserable?