Lifestyles of the poor and nameless

Wednesday was the "welcome back" office luncheon for one of my co-workers who recently returned from military duty. We went to a wonderful pastry shop/restaurant where I got enough food to take home for tonight's dinner and tomorrow's lunch (in addition to what I ate while I was there) for $12.35 (after tax & tip). Our boss was supposed to attend lunch with us, but she got stuck in a meeting and couldn't make it (much to the delight of many in the group).

Background: One of our co-workers is an elderly lady named Hau. She is past retirement age, although nobody knows exactly how old she is. She has respiratory issues and sometimes takes off from work because of it. Recently, one of her brothers passed away very suddenly, and she was left to see after his estate. She requested time off without pay (we call this furlough) but the boss denied her request, saying that there is work to be done. Many of the co-workers think Hau should just put in her retirement, but Hau has been resisting.

On the way to the restaurant, everyone kept talking about the great bread that we would get there. They have 2 flavors: cheese and cinnamon. Each slice is the size of a sicilian pizza slice. They both suck, if you ask me, but everyone else loved them. The plate of bread that came to our table was huge. The bread was plentiful, like manna from heaven, and they just kept refilling it. My ghetto co-workers (comforting to know that "others" can be ghetto too) had brought in plastic bags to take the bread home. Hau said that she wanted to bring a piece of cinnamon bread back for the boss. But the co-worker who was hoarding the bread wouldn't let her have it when he found out who she wanted to give it to. "Oh, you want to give this to the boss who won't let you take furlough?! No no." In the end, Hau got about 1/4 of a slice. She said she was too embarassed to bring such a small piece back, because it looked like someone's leftovers.

The rest of the co-workers snickered and said "oh well." But I was in awe of Hau. The boss kinda makes Hau's life miserable, but Hau was still willing to do the Christian thing and bring her some bread. I know I wouldn't have thought to do it if I was in Hau's place. God bless you, Hau.