An Inspiring Story Told at a Quiznos

I sent this story about my lunchtime to my girlfriend because it was just so unbelievable:

“You won’t BELIEVE the story I heard today.

So I went to Quizno’s for lunch on my manager’s recommendation (not so much of a recommendation, but she had it for lunch, I saw the bag, turns out that her kids were thinking about starting up a Quizno’s franchise but were dismayed by their business practises—NONE of which is relevant for this story), and the guy who runs the shop (the one just south of College on Yonge), Oskar, is a pretty nice guy. We made small talk about the poor state of the world and such, and all was well.

Then his employee came to ring out my sandwich at the till, and I decided to pay debit (as I’m not carrying any cash), and she said it would be an extra 12 cents. I did the patented Palmer Shrug of the Shoulders and said—”I think I can afford that.” And we laughed. Oskar then proceeded to tell me a story.

A while ago, a man had come in and the same thing had happened, where he was going to be charged the extra 12 cents. When he learned this, he told Oskar, “I don’t think I’m going to make it to the end of the week.” Oskar laughed it off at first, but when he looked at the man, he saw that he was serious! Now, Oskar felt bad, and he’s a firm believer in God, so he said, “You know—if things are that bad, here you go. Just take the sandwich, and I hope things get better.” The man was shocked, and said, “Thank you.” Oskar felt good that he was able to help someone else in a time of need.

A few days pass, and Oskar sees the man again. He comes up to the till and hands Oskar a $100 bill. Oskar said, “I can’t take this—I just opened and there’s no way I can change it for you!” The man said, “No, don’t worry about it.” Oskar asks “What is this for? Surely you want the change.” The man goes, “It’s for you, take it.” Oskar was very confused—this was more than ten times the value of the sandwich he’d given him a few days back and he’d been on hard times. Turns out that after Oskar had given him the sandwich, this man had played the lottery and won $125,000.

Oskar was never prouder to be holding a $100 in his life.”

The Lord is good and truth is stranger than fiction. Craziness.

–case p.