Lessons from a teenage McDonald's drive-thru worker, a terrible interstate motorcycle crash, and my 12-year-old daughter!

This is my first ever LinkedIn article but felt compelled to share what happened last night. It might surprise some folks to know it has nothing to do with insurance but it does have a lot to do with life. When I experience a traumatic situation, I have found writing to be a productive outlet. I am referring to the second half of this article, so please if you can hang with me to the end, I hope someone finds value in this.

After a full day of work followed by my daughter's 2 1/2 hour soccer camp which also followed her 3-hour volleyball tryouts in the morning, we were both very exhausted and wanted nothing more than to get home and wind down for the day. We have an hour drive to soccer practices now that she has joined a very competitive club team although we said if you make the top team we will make the commitment. She was one of the top recruits out of 100+ girls in her age group and we are very proud of her. I digress. My daughter had a great soccer camp and was completely exhausted, she asked to stop at McDonald's on the way home which I reluctantly agreed to knowing it would add another 20+ minutes to our long commute home. The line was very long, we waited, I got impatient, and started complaining. My 12-year-old daughter could see me getting upset and impatient from the long day. She started to apologize to me, then I felt bad.

We pulled up to the drive thru window to pay after about 20 minutes of waiting and was greeted by the kindess most caring teenager I’ve ever seen at Mcdonald's. She greeted us with “Good Evening, I’m so sorry about your wait, we are short-staffed and really appreciate your patience.” She smiled politely and immediately relieved any frustration I had. I apologized to her for having to deal with so many irate customers because I could hear them taking their inpatient aggression out on her one car at a time in front of me. I asked if she gets yelled at a lot, and she said every day, I said you are a real trooper, she said I explain that the wait is really out of my control and I try to be kind to avoid getting yelled at. She said it's kind of like a game, if one car doesn’t yell at me, that’s a success. Wow, what a perspective from a teenager I thought; I said I know this has to be a tough job, you probably don’t get paid much but appreciate your kindness. I asked how long she had worked there, and she said this is her third week on the job, its her first job, and it has been very difficult. She thanked me for our conversation and for being friendly. I thought that was pretty cool and my daughter said, she was so nice!

Next time we pull up to a drive-thru or anywhere with a line for that matter – maybe we could deploy more patience, gratitude, and selflessness. I was upset because my daughter wanted something to eat after burning massive calories in a hard soccer practice and not much was available at 9:30 in the evening. I am embarrassed that I let my emotions take over and would even get upset about her wanting something to eat and me “having” (more like getting to) wait in a long line after a long day. How easy we forget the conveniences in life are truly a privilege. Talk about first-world problems. Selfishly I just wanted to get home and joined the herd of frustrated customers until this teenager, 3 weeks on the job was able to neutralize the situation and flip the frustration from outward to inward.

THEN SOMETHING REALLY SHOCKING HAPPENED…

We left Mcdonald's and pulled up to a traffic light to merge onto the highway, a motorcycle was in front of me in the right-hand turn lane; admittingly not being a motorcycle fan I thought to myself why is someone out on their bike this late and why are they taking the interstate. We merge onto the highway behind the motorcycle which had a passenger on the back, it was nearing 10:00 PM, dark, with two very tired people in the car.

A few miles down the highway my daughter and I see this motorcycle immediately curve off the highway, slide to its side, discharging the passenger, and wreck in the nearby ditch. Parts were flying off the bike with two passengers on it!!! I immediately pulled over and so did another car. My daughter was yelling, Daddy what do we do, I said stay in the car, I need to go help those people (I did not want her to get out for fear she would see an awful situation). I sprinted back to the scene of the accident fully expecting to find two dead bodies or severely injured people, after all, they were on a motorcycle that abruptly flew off the highway at about 55 mph and on a direct collision course to a ditch.

Fortunately (in a weird way meaning there were signs of life) I could hear screaming, call 9-1-1 the passenger was yelling, I was in shock, and panicked, immediately dialed 9-1-1 and explained there had been an accident. By that time a good Samaritan had pulled over and helped me lift the motorcycle off of the driver as he was trapped under the bike and having terrible seizures. His body was thrusting up and down out of control, I was still on with the 9-1-1 operation explaining the situation and the passenger mentioned the driver was epileptic and was having an episode.

The driver was able to slow down enough and intuitive enough to get the bike off the concrete highway as quickly as possible and sacrificed what effort he had left mid-seizure to protect his girlfriend. She said he slowed down as fast as possible, pulled off the highway into the tall grass, and yelled at me to jump off the bike while he stayed on and slid it to its side for an even more abrupt crash. In the process the windshield busted off, cut his face, and he was trapped under the bike completely out of it, blood all over his face, seizing for what seemed like an eternity. I was explaining the situation to the 9-1-1 operator, they had dispatched help but he was still having seizures. His girlfriend was panic-stricken, holding him in her arms while he was on the ground with who knows what injuries from staying on the bike. She was distraught, yelling, screaming, and crying. He was able to get up after several minutes but still shaking and seizing. He started to walk to the interstate and oncoming traffic completely distressed, not knowing where he was. She said help me keep him away from the highway, cars flew by at 70 mph, going about their day not knowing what was happening in the dark ditch with two cars with flashers on the side of the highway. We restrained him from walking to the highway, he was still shaking, we pulled him back to the ground, the ambulance arrived, several police, and EMT vehicles arrived.

I looked back about ? mile down the highway where I left my daughter in the car on the side of the road and could see her tiny silhouette standing outside of the car, watching, observing, and concerned with what was happening. She yelled Daddy, is everybody OK? I ran back to her and took her to the accident scene now that the driver and passenger were in the ambulance. I explained what had happened and that everyone was going to be OK, she was so relieved. She said I saw you and that other guy pulling the motorcycle off of that man and thought he was dead.

I spoke to the Sherriff, explained what we had seen, completed a witness statement, and walked back to my car where we were able to finally make it back home just before midnight.

When we got back in the car, I saw the Mcdonald's chicken nuggets sitting on the armrest of the car, ? eaten, and said to my daughter, honey do you want to finish your nuggets? She said no I’m not really hungry anymore - I’m just glad those people are OK and you and that other guy were able to help.

They say everything happens for a reason. If we had not stopped to get Mcdonald's and waited in that long line late in the day, exhausted, we would not have been behind that motorcycle. We would not have met a fantastically kind drive-thru worker who shaped my perspective of what a tough job really is and how kindness is the ultimate neutralizer. Talk about timing, chance, circumstance, or perhaps opportunity.

I think God was teaching me more than one lesson last night. I am so thankful that we were able to help in even a small way. What if we had not been behind the motorcycle, what if we didn’t see the crash, what if no one was around to call 9-1-1 because the girlfriend lost her phone in the crash? Lots of what ifs but more importantly lots of lessons learned for Lydia and for her Dad.

Be patient, be kind, lead by example, help a neighbor in need, and most importantly know someone else you might have a massive influence on is watching.?