Who wants to hear another feel-good story thanks to the World Cup? Gather round.
A longtime GORUCK GRT and friend told me about his most recent World Cup experience. He lives in Atlanta and last week stopped into Alon’s Bakery after lunch for a coffee.
He’s in line to order his coffee, pays for it, and goes to the other side of the counter to wait for it. All of a sudden, there's some commotion at the register where he had just paid. A group of men speaking broken English had ordered coffees but were having a hard time paying because they didn’t have a credit card, and the bakery is cashless.Without overthinking it, our friend walked over and paid for their coffee with his card because they had a growing line behind them, and that's just what you do, right?Next thing you know, these men are high-fiving him, slapping him on the back, and everyone is making introductions by first name and expressing their thanks. One guy tried to give him the cash in his hand, but he refused it, encouraging the man to pay it forward: "Tomorrow you pay for someone else’s coffee."
So our friend picked up his coffee, waved farewell to his new friends, and left the building.
But that wasn’t the end of the story, dude and dudettes. He’s out in the parking lot of Phipps Plaza backing his car out when one of the guys comes running over. That’s when he sees it: the FIFA badge credentials—"like official sh!t with a picture," as he told the story.
He rolled down the window and started talking to the FIFA guy, who asked, "Do you like soccer?"
He replied, "Yes... what's going on?"
Then the FIFA guy asked, "Do you like Morocco?"
And our GORUCK friend said, "I love it! I’ve traveled all over Morocco. It’s the first country to recognize my country 250 years ago when it became a new, fledgling nation."
The FIFA guy asked for his phone number and said, "I'm gonna send you a ticket tomorrow."
Sure enough, later that evening he got a text message telling him to download the FIFA app, and the following day he received two tickets... to the Morocco vs. Haiti game in Atlanta.
He witnessed six goals that evening, spent the match cheering alongside his new Moroccan friends, and walked away with a memory he'll tell for the rest of his life.
All because he bought a few strangers a cup of coffee.
-emily
