These days, our faith in humanity is at an all-time low. With
Donald Trump heading up America as the 45th President of the United States and global warming continuing to spiral out of control, it's clear that 2017 hasn't been the best of years for humankind.
However, luckily for us, there are small acts of kindness to be found in the most unexpected places. Whether that's finding out that you were saved the last piece of birthday cake, or discovering that your friends regularly spend their time volunteering, it's always heartening to see that the people around us are less morally repugnant than we first assumed.
The latest example of this comes from Middlesborough, England, where a
restaurant received a remarkable note in the post after a group of diners fled without paying.
Living in the 21st century, it can be slightly disconcerting to be affronted with an establishment which refuses to take our plastic cards, and instead insists on rather archaic forms of currency, also known as cash.
This was exactly the dilemma that a group of three men ran into while
dining at the Kilimandjaro restaurant in Middlesborough on the 8th of December. After enjoying their dinner, they found themselves embroiled in a rather awkward situation when they realised that they couldn't pay by card.
The trio then took off to try to locate a cash point, but the men, who weren't actually from the area, soon realised that their last train home was due to depart very shortly. After becoming distracted by this knowledge, they hastily made their way to the nearest train station, completely forgetting that they hadn't paid the bill for their food.
The owner of the establishment, Apollo Apollinaire, wasn't too dismayed by the loss of revenue, as the diners' bill wasn't too expensive, and he chalked it up as an experience that he and his waiting staff could learn from. Speaking to the Gazette Live, Apollo said;
"I put it down to a bad experience. Usually people don’t walk out as a whole group for a cash machine. I just told my staff to next time make sure one of them stays or they leave some belongings until they come back. We accepted they would never come back and we had lost the money."
However, restoring Apollo's faith in humanity, and everyone else's in Middlesborough, something unexpected turned up in the post a few days later. It was a letter from the
diners explaining the situation, and it included the money they owed in full. The note read;
"We exited Kilimandjaros to embark on a search for a A.T.M machine. On our search, it was apparent that the last train to our hometown was shortly about to depart. This diverted our attention away from finding an A.T.M machine and led to us running to the train station and just making our train. It was at this point, being too late, we realised our actions and decided to write this letter of apology with £40 enclosed in this envelope."
Additionally, the diners apologised for being unable to deliver the cash and letter and person, and promised to give the restaurant a glowing, five-star recommendation on TripAdvisor.
Apollo shared the note on Facebook, to urge people to refrain from judging people before they know the whole story.
[[facebookwidget||https://www.facebook.com/Kilimandjaromiddlesbrough/posts/1978538795760848]]
Well there you have it, whether you choose to blame it on the festive spirit that is subsuming everything at the moment, or just some old-fashioned good manners, it just goes to show that people aren't
that bad, after all.
