Random act of kindness leaves a sweet taste

IMAGINE going out with your family for a celebratory dinner and, at the end of the evening, when you’re ready to settle your bill, you’re told that it has been paid.

This was the case for journalists Nerissa Card and her husband, Garth Johnstone, whose dinner was quietly paid for by a man who sat at the table next to theirs.

Card said they were celebrating the 60th wedding anniversary of her parents, Marcelle and Fred Card, at the Nottingham Road Hotel in the KZN Midlands at the weekend.

Card said she went outside for a cigarette and began chatting to two women who were part of a group at the table next to theirs.

“They told me they were down from Joburg for the Midmar Mile. I told them the reason for our visit to the hotel,” Card said.

She said they went back to their tables and carried on with the celebrations. Eventually, the table alongside theirs got up to leave.

“On their way out, one of the men in the group stopped briefly, shook my father’s hand and congratulated him and my mother on their milestone,” Card said.

They continued their dinner, and when they asked for the bill, they were told by the waitress that the man who greeted her dad had already settled it.

She said her parents were “totally taken aback”.

“I mean it must have been a substantial amount because there were five of us. Three had starters, we all had mains, a bottle of wine and pudding,” said Card.

By chance when Card went out for another cigarette, she saw a woman who had been at the same table as the kind stranger.

“I said ‘I can’t believe what just happened’ and she said ‘Ja, I know, he’s just that kind of amazing guy’.”

Card learnt that the man’s name was Fred of Fred’s Auto Body business in Germiston, Ekurhuleni.

She texted the woman yesterday to ask for Fred’s number to thank him.

“He told her to tell me that there was no need to thank him and that I should just pay it forward in my own way someday,” Card said.