After a bit of soul-searching and revelation, I’ve decided I want to start a new tradition where I pick a photo from the past year that is the most meaningful for me and give the dear readers an insight as to why it’s the one that reigns supreme.
For Alex, it was genuinely no contest as to which one would be the winner.
It would be an example of good old British understatement to point out that he has made such huge strides in the past year!
Anyone who has spent even a modicum of time with him couldn’t possibly have missed it.
His vocabulary seems to have exploded and there are times that he genuinely surprises me as to where he’s going to go with all those new words and thoughts he’s got at his command. There’s been more than a few times this year where he’s actually caught me out with something he’s worked out in his head that was very insightful and that’s been truly delightful.
I’ve noticed that my favourite companion for what passes for Carpool Karaoke in the Traverse has not only been singing more of the lyrics of the songs but that his breadth of knowledge of the music has certainly taken a huge leap forward.
He’s always been pretty much on key and in tune but now he’s doing a great job keeping up with the lyrics and dropping noticeably fewer words than in the past.
But what has been quite a revelation has been just how well he’s taken to his first job working for the Garner area Chick Fil-A group.
He’d been agitating about wanting a job of his own for quite a while…a couple of years ago, he was absolutely adamant that he was going to be working for Target. When his sister actually got hired on at the White Oak Target, that desire of his only intensified.
He’s always been one who is eager to please and do whatever is asked of him. If there was anyone who truly embodied and lived Mr S Truett Cathy’s philosophy of going the extra mile to make the people they meet and serve feel truly special and appreciated, it is Alex.
So it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that Alex would find his perfect job this fall working for Chick Fil-A, Mr Cathy’s most famous and successful restaurant venture where it is not uncommon to hear the phrase “my pleasure” from an employee whenever someone thanks them.
It was a phrase Mr Cathy had overheard from an employee at a high-end hotel and the interaction always stuck with him.
I had a chance to meet Mr Cathy a few times when I lived in Port Orange FL so long ago. The Cathys had a vacation home (and later several properties) in New Smyrna Beach but it wasn’t uncommon to see them at Sunday services at the First Baptist Church in Daytona Beach.
Back then, Chick Fil-A had ruled the malls who were finally starting to lean in on the “food court” concept and was already fantastically successful. They’d just started their move into standalone restaurants after saturating every mall in the south. Even then, Chick Fil-A was fantastically successful and Mr Cathy and the family had become fabulously wealthy as a result.
You’d never have known it to see them sitting quietly in the pews with the rest of us. I wonder how many people sat near him during Sunday services and had no idea that they were sitting next to one of the most successful fast-food entrepreneurs the world has ever seen.
The only reason I’d recognised him at all was that the Chick Fil-A in Hartsfield International airport in Atlanta that I’d fly through frequently had a picture of him in front of the grille at “The Dwarf House”, the original location across from the old Ford assembly plant near Hapeville.
I got a chance to speak with him as we were filing out of the service with a few thousand other parishoners where I was going to get Grandma’s Oldsmobile Delta-88 battleship and drive it round to pick her and Grandpa up much closer to the entrance.
Imagine the most charming Southern gentleman with a very kind expression and even kinder vibe about him and then multiply it by about a thousand. You might then just get close to just how strong a personal charisma he had and even though he’d earned more money in a month than I’d likely ever see in my entire life, he was a genuinely nice man who asked what I was wanting to do with my studies and wished me much success with them.
Three guesses and the first two don’t count as to what he said when I thanked him for his kind words and thoughts.
I’ve been a fan of his ever since!
In his few weeks with Chick Fil-A, Alex has clearly smitten pretty much every coworker of his with that charm he’s had all his life. There was Miss Emma trying to sneak a peek in his direction without being noticed when I dropped him off at the restaurant on his second or third shift and Miss Jasmine who he’d clearly already impressed with Alex’s attitude and can-do spirit. Then there was the marketing lady at the satellite office on NC-50 where he’d help assemble utensil packets for catering who had been impressed not only with his work ethic but that he kept everyone else on their toes and inspired them to meet the goal for the shift.
But what I’m most thankful for is that Alex has found the dignity in doing good work and serving others well. He takes great pride in whatever they ask of him and I really can’t imagine I’d find any of his coworkers that would have an unkind word to say about him. The couple of times I’ve actually gone into the restaurant with him, it was as if he was getting a hero’s welcome.
In just a few weeks, he’s stood just a little bit taller. He looks forward to every shift with enthusiasm and then tells the tale of his adventures with a pride and joy that cannot help to brighten your day when you hear him and the excitement in his voice.
I think Mr Cathy would have absolutely adored him.
I imagine the light bathing Alex’s left shoulder and painting him in a golden light would agree.
Alexander has forgotten more about the concept of courage than I could ever hope to know. He’s taken on a new job which is a scary prospect for most of us as if he’s been doing it all along and captured the hearts of everyone he meets.
How can one not be proud of that? 🙂
