Just a Star

It was one of those beautiful nights, with the dark sky full of stars. He lied down as usual on the bench on his rooftop terrace after coming home from a stressful day at work. The pleasant sight of the night sky calms him down and he falls asleep to it almost every day.

He stares above for a while, his eyes completely fixated on the stars, his mind lost in deep thoughts, so much that he even forgets to blink his eyes for a couple of minutes. He then murmurs - “I’m just like another star in the sky, nothing special. I just exist” as he kept looking into the distance. And slowly closes his eyes.

He has a monotonous lifestyle. He wakes up, goes to work and comes back home. He works as a waiter at the neighborhood restaurant which is pretty popular as it’s located at the hub. And thinks his job is easily replaceable and is quite ordinary. He doesn’t mind the ordinariness itself but the idea that it’s not specifically important in any way. His day depends on the types of customers he encounters on that particular day. While there might be a few annoying and grumpy ones, the rest are usually nice.

Today was just another busy day. It was 2pm, the place was getting filled with people, which meant more and more work. He stood near the entrance of the kitchen where the food gets placed ready to serve, waiting for a brief moment as the food was being prepared.

A customer in wheelchair entered then, and was puzzled at the lack of space to navigate further in. She looked around trying to signal at someone for help. The waiter noticed and nodded indicating he was coming. He was a bit confused on what to do as they neither had a wheel-chaired person before nor could he approach the manager as he was out for a few hours on an important work. He knew he had to take the matter in his own hands as one of the experienced staff there. First, he goes behind the lady on the chair, trying to assist her to a seat somehow. There was one empty seat but on the far end of the entrance at an inaccessible spot. The lady sighed, but not too disheartened as if she was so familiar with the situation and asked if she could just perhaps take away food instead. The waiter seemed mildly frustrated and tried to think of an alternative, he just couldn’t accept how a disabled woman couldn’t even enjoy a meal at their eatery. He requested the lady to just wait for five minutes which she agreed to do so.

There was a small section of the room on the side which had some decorations for the upcoming festival.

“What use is that if a disabled hungry customer can’t be given a place to eat comfortably. What use is that to attract new customers when we are unable to satisfy our current customers” - he says to himself while having a confident look on his face as he now figures what to do.

He immediately called a fellow waiter and briefed him on the situation. They rush to the storage, grab an old circular table and a chair and set it up in place of the decorations. A few minutes pass by and the customer is brought to the table. The waiter apologizes and regrets at how short-sighted they were and promises of better conditions in the future. The lady was beaming with joy and was relieved at the fact that she didn’t have to worry about finding another place to eat. She thanked the waiter sincerely and gave him a broad smile. She then proceeded to enjoy her meal thoroughly and nodded at the waiter before she left. The waiter continued serving his customers but his mind was elsewhere. He kept looking at his watch occasionally, waiting for it to hit 19:15. After a couple of hours, he glanced at it again and said – “Finally!”

It was his break time. The waiter headed to the manager’s room during his short break, and informed him about the situation that occurred and suggested a different seating arrangement to make enough way for wheelchairs to move around smoothly. The manager after giving it some thought, agreed and said they would soon have a meeting on how our place could be modified to be more welcoming and accommodating for other disabled people too and praised the waiter for his timely thinking and action in his absence. The waiter was glad to hear such a quick positive response and was relieved that they were going to be doing something about it.

He then headed towards the balcony at the upper floor of the restaurant as he had a few more minutes left before his break was over. He noticed his co-worker, who helped him earlier was joining him and they smiled to acknowledge each other. Too tired to have a chit-chat, they rested their arms on the railings of the balcony and looked out as they were sipping hot tea. Two different buzz sounds rang almost simultaneously breaking the silence. It was a notification on their phones, the same instant of the sound possibly meaning it was a work-related message. The co-worker checks it and reads it aloud - it was a mail from their manager regarding the change in seating plan along with other important changes and that the waiter was appointed as the head in-charge. He turns off his phone, turns left to look at the waiter and says “Today I was reminded of the days I was on the wheelchair quite some years back. Life was a hassle. Going out was hard, let alone having the freedom of enjoying food at my favorite place. You know what you remind me of - a star, pointing towards the sky, a shiny star.”

The realization finally hits the waiter. He may be a star that just exists, but that which shines beautifully.