Random acts of kindness are pretty popular across the United States. Whether it’s lending a helping hand, letting someone cut the line, sending a kind note to someone or picking up litter, smiles can be easily made. In Sidell, Louisiana a small act of kindness made for smiles in the Facebook world and the Sidell Police Department.
When going out to eat at a restaurant many people expect to sit down, eat their meal, pay the bill then be on their way. There were a few police officers from the Sidell Police Department that had a little different dining experience. These police officers decided to spend their lunch break at Outback Steakhouse one day. As they were finishing up their meal their bill was being prepared. The manager and server decided to step in a show a small act of kindness. Zoe Rao and Arline Wood decided to take care of the police officers’ bill. After doing so, the server Arline brought the officers their bill with a message written on it. The message said “Thank y’all for y’all’s service! Enjoy y’alls meal on us!” with a sweet smiley face on it. The police officers were shocked and thankful for these women and their kindness. To be in accordance with the department’s policy and the ethic laws, the officers left a tip that covered the cost of the bill as well as thanking them.
The Sidell police officers later took their gratitude to Facebook. They made a post including the bill with a note and stated “Words can’t describe how this makes all of us feel, Thank you, Ms. Arlene and Zoe, for being so kind and showing your appreciation for law enforcement.” This post quickly got over 1,000 shares on Facebook leading it to go viral on other platforms as well. Both Arline and Zoe were not expecting all the publicity. Arline stated “I got a phone call early in the morning and I was like what are you talking about? People were calling me and then we saw it on Facebook, then it’s on this one and that one, and we didn’t do it for this publicity, because lord knows I don’t like all this publicity.” Both women were amazed at the post going viral and the gratitude that the Sidell police officers showed them. The women spoke with Fox 8 about the random act of kindness. Zoe Rao stated, “They’re the sweetest guys, I enjoyed waiting on them.” Arline Wood added to the interview “They care about the community, they care about everybody, they’re just great guys, our whole police force is great and these guys at night, I went to Zoe and I said let’s take care of it”. This manager and server did an amazing job at spreading kindness in Sidell that day. It goes to show a random act of kindness can go a long way.
