french fries
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So it was raining and it was lunch time. We were walking down the street in the pouring rain and starving. Then my friend saw a restaurant that we hadn’t noticed before, stuck between 2 bigger stores in the same building. A green fast food outlet with a small painted sign that said “Super Jumbo X – Only $7.” Despite the great deal, the outlet was empty. Well, I was hungry and anything with super jumbo was bound to be filling. So I let myself be pulled in by my friend. And besides, it was raining.
We go in, and the store is depressingly empty. The inside is all painted in tacky colors, looking like a set out of a Pixar movie. There is one guy working behind the counter, and he looks pretty used to being the only guy there. So my friend directly orders the Super Jumbo, because he knows what he wants and then it’s my turn and I order one too. But since I never had a super jumbo before, I look around the display to see if there’s anything else that looks tasty – just in case the super jumbo doesn’t sit in my stomach right.
And then I see the French fries – and there’s a whole row of five different kinds. Each bunch in its own little white bag. I love French fries, and I always get an order if I ever step into a fast food joint. But there are 5 different kinds, and no prices attached (I’m a hungry AND poor guy, even in my dreams). And usually when there’s no price attached, it’s expensive. I see what looks like the traditional long thin kind, and ask the counter guy, “How much are the French fries? The second one from the left.” He says, “$5.” And in my head I’m thinking, ‘$5? Such a small bag for only $5???’ It looked 1/10 the size of a super jumbo – and they didn’t look especially different from other French fries. I didn’t understand how the store came up with that price – no wonder there were no customers. I was beginning to wonder about the super jumbo too. But I didn’t say any of this.
And so I say out loud, a little disappointed, “$5?” After a short pause, still staring at the $5 french fries, I asked, “Is there anything particularly different in taste with these French fries from other fries?” And the guy said honestly, maybe because nobody else was around, maybe because it didn’t matter whether I bought them or not, or maybe because he was just an honest guy, “No, not really.”
“Oh. Okay.” I turn away from the French fries and say, “Then just a super jumbo.” I think the guy could sense my disappointment, that I really wanted to eat French fries, but that I wasn’t willing, or couldn’t shell out $5 for them. Because then he asked me, “How much do you pay for french fries at McDonald’s?” And I say “I’m not sure. About $1.” And he smiles and says, “Okay, why don’t you just pay $1and I’ll give you the French fries.” And me of course I was surprised and I say, “Hey wow! Thanks!” But after a split second, I ask, “But are you sure it’s okay??? I don’t want you to get in trouble because of me or a bag of French fries.” I glance around the store and behind the counter to see if there’s a hidden camera or hidden manager somewhere.
I have no idea why he’s nice, because it’s not as if I’m a beautiful girl (I’m a guy), and I don’t remember being particularly nice to him. And he says out of the blue, with kind eyes, as if he were reading my mind, “It’s because you have a good heart.”
And I’m like, “What? How do you know that?” I’m really curious how this guy can tell if a person has a good heart. People have said I have a good heart before, but usually it’s after I do something nice - not after I order French fries.
And he says, “Because most people when they find out the price of the french fries, they either bargain with me, or flip out and start complaining. Or usually both. In their world, they think French fries shouldn’t be that expensive, and they think it’s ridiculous and unreasonable. They think they know the way things should be, and that the store is being stupid. When they complain about the store’s position, and why the store prices the French fries so high, they don’t seek to understand, they only seek to get the price they want. They automatically think things should be THEIR way. They only think of their position and what they want. This is a very self-centered way of being.
“But you, you accepted the store’s price. You didn’t complain or try to change it when you couldn’t get what you wanted. You accepted that the store had made a choice about the price for its own reasons, for reasons that you did or didn’t understand. But you accepted that the store had its own position, and you respected the store’s position – you didn’t try to argue or change it or complain about it.
“So I can see from this that you have a good heart. You don’t force or try to change people, or bend the world to your will. You respect the decisions of others. You accept it when you can’t have things your way. There aren’t very many like you.
“Actually, this store is not really a fast food outlet. The prices are artificially inflated to see how customers react and reveal their true selves. It’s an experiment to see how people react when they are presented with a situation that is not of the real world. That is why this store only exists in a dream.”
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