Blake's Story Bursts

Karma at the drive-in

So upon leaving my buddy Jason’s house, I realized I was thirsty. As it was relatively early, I decided to drop by Sonic for a tasty beverage (something I have not done in quite some time). I ordered and counted out a few cents to add to the bill, leaving me entitled to exactly two dollars in change. The carhop gave me the drink and took my money, gave me my change and left. As I went to put my change in my wallet, though, I realized she’d made a mistake: she gave me three dollars instead.

Well, crap.

A lot of people, I know, would just pocket the buck and leave, and I’ll admit I almost did that, then the thought hit me that she may get in trouble, that they may dock her the dollar, and while it’s just a dollar to me, maybe it would make a difference to her, and dammit all I was already opening the door to my car and going after her. A second later I found myself tapping on the door with the “employees only” sign, trying to get someone’s attention so I could give her the dollar back. It was about quarter past nine, and it’s not like our Sonic is in some horrible neighborhood, but it was difficult not to get a little nervous. I’m standing out there, at a drive-through burger joint, at night, tapping on the glass and wearing a shirt with Frankenstein on it and I realized that getting shot in the face by a frightened Sonic assistant manager while trying to return an extra dollar given to me in error would be a cause of death entirely consistent with the way my life has gone thus far. It took about three minutes for anyone to notice me, and then it was the same girl who brought me my order, coming out with someone else’s. When she saw me she was noticeably, understandably surprised, and looked a little worried. She probably thought I was there to complain or shout at her, no doubt because she’s put up with crap like that from angry customers a thousand times. When she realized I was actually there to give her a dollar BACK, she looked immensely relieved and thanked me, and I went home.

This is the point where some of my friends, I know, would say something about karma and positive energy and the good in our lives coming back upon us tenfold and stuff like that. But in truth – and please believe me when I say I intend no offense to anybody – I don’t believe in Karma. I believe in a thousand crazy, ridiculous, wonderful things, but I don’t believe in Karma. I’ve seen too many good people get crapped on for no reason and too many douchebags excel, too many imbeciles fall ass-backward into good fortune and too many amazing people work hard their entire lives and never stop struggling. I just can’t believe in it. The flipside of this, fortunately, is that I also believe that there ARE people who work hard and succeed and people who do nothing and reap nothing. I just don’t think anyone intends to make sure our scorecards balance out before we die.

The point is, I don’t expect any good fortune to come my way for the incredibly minor act of giving a dollar back to a Sonic waitress. I just know that I’ll be able to sleep tonight because I did.