Immediately upon being welcomed to Chili’s by a young female server, Kurt Elman’s adult children noted that their father suddenly gained a personality which they had never encountered before.
This never-before-seen charisma seems to have been activated solely by the server’s presence.
“I’ve never seen him be so happy to be alive and present like that,” said son Cameron. “I mean, unless he’s dealing with an attractive woman in the service industry. With us he’s just… offline.”
Kurt’s charm was on display when the server came back to take drink orders. “You know what? I’ll have a pop. Why not? I’m alive, baby!” Kurt proclaimed when a simple, “I’ll have Coke,” would’ve sufficed.
Upon the server’s brief exit to get drinks, Kurt returned to his usual emotionally unavailable self, at which point he was unresponsive to anyone’s attempts at striking conversation, making jokes, or engaging in any way. That is, until the server came back with everyone’s beverages. Kurt responded with cheer, the likes of which have never been witnessed during his tenure as the stoic, silent patriarch of the family.
“It’s weird because this is not the man I know as my father,” his daughter Olivia recounted. “If he acted this way around mom, she might actually enjoy being married to him.”
Kurt later asked the inspirational server for a bacon cheeseburger with confidence. When pressed on how he would like it done, Kurt’s slyly delivered response was, “Rare–I want it still mooing.”
Deafening silence returned during the server’s absence until she made a brief appearance to check-in on everyone’s orders. “It’s terrible!”, Kurt responded.
Later, when asked if Kurt wants to box any of his leftovers, he went in for the final punchline and replied, “No, but I’ll wrestle them.” And with a polite, silent smile, the server left.
Kurt, despite clearly having the time of his life, left an exact 15% tip.