Kindness: An Umbrella

Last week was a really rainy wee. It was supposed to be a really snowy week, but, for the hundredth time this winter, the weathermen were all wrong. Precipitation, yes. Snowfall, no. Howling winds, yes. Blizzarding snow, no.

One of those mornings, the weather was all crazy. It was gently raining when I woke up for work. It was pouring by the time I left to catch the bus. I was semi-prepared - I had a Gustbuster umbrella, but a not-too-waterproof coat. I wasn't expecting the turn from gentle rain to pouring. The Gustbuster held up marvelously, as it should given its price and performance promise.

I work from 9-5, but Co-worker works from 10-6. So she gets in about an hour later than I do each day. Apparently in that hour-long window, the pouring rain turned into a raining-sideways monsoon. Or, more accurately, the nor;easter bared its teeth. Co-worker left her house and headed to the T. Unfortunately, halfway between her house and the subway stop, her umbrella taco'd. It folded in half, inside out. This left her with a conundrum. Run home or run onward to catch the train. She was halfway between. Which way to go?

She knew once she reached the station, she wouldn't have to be outside anymore that day, well, until the evening when she'd be walking back home after getting off the subway. She made a decision and hurried toward the subway stop. Inside the station, there are massive escalators, newspaper stands and an information booth. It was from the booth that the kindness came.

People leave things on the T all the time. I always laugh at the announcers (in my mind) when they remind us, "don't gorget to take your belongings." I mean, how can you forget your briefcase or purse or groceries. But I guess it's easier to forget the little things: the gloves, the hats, the umbrellas. So, the man at the information booth collects left-behind umbrellas, for just such a situation as this.

When he saw Co-worker come into the station, drenched without an umbrella in-hand, he offered one. One of the left-behinds. It was a lender, to be returned once she didn't need it anymore. Once she got home that night and found another one.

What a great, nice, kind, smart idea.