Better To Give

Someone much wiser and richer than me once said, "Never give your talent away. Make people pay for it."  I have tried to live by that, but there is one recent incident where I am glad I didn't listen to that credo.




For the past 10 years or so, we've had a quirky little lady working in our company cafeteria. Her name is Cheryl. She worked the grill like no one's business! Not only could she make 5 orders at a time, she remembered people's names and what their "usual" was. She was amazing!


I didn't know much about her, but over the years we got to be good acquaintances: probably because she saw me almost every day of the week, and sometimes more than once! She wasn't married and didn't have any kids, but she did tell me a little about her family. Eventually she gave me a little of her background. She even got to know Brie, since she had been working there too.


We really liked Cheryl and all of her quirkiness. She was great at her job and seemed to enjoy it. She'd been working as a cook for over 30 years, so that's one reason why she was so good at it!


But eventually someone in the company decided to replace Cheryl's food vendor with another one. I'm not sure why, but it meant that she and several of the other people that I liked would be gone by the end of September. I was shocked and dismayed, as was she. However, she was quickly snatched up by another big company so at least she'd be set until she retires in 2 years. I was rather disheartened but that's how the world turns.


On her last day I went to the cafeteria and had her fix me my "usual" for breakfast. Then I gave her a beautiful card with my business card in it. I told her she could open the card at home. Then I gave her a hug goodbye and the last thing she said to me was, "Love you girl."


A few weeks ago, I received an email from someone I didn't know. I read it and it turned out to be Cheryl's sister. She told me how much the card had meant to Cheryl. She then told me that Cheryl didn't have an ereader or even a computer, but sure would like to read one of my novels.


You guessed it: a few days ago I mailed out a printed copy of "Three's The Charm" to Cheryl.  So what if I gave it away as a freebie? She was very good to me all these years and it was the least I could do for someone who became a good friend. Her sister emailed me again 2 days ago to tell me how thrilled Cheryl was to receive the book, and she read the entire thing in one sitting. That really made me feel good, and she went on to say how much she loved it and that I would hear from her soon.


So that's one royalty check I won't be missing. And for the joy it brought her: I'm glad I decided it was better to give.