Mytonic what?

The restaurant has partnered with the local chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation to help raise money for a 16-year-old kid suffering from something called "mytonic dystrophy."

Yeah, I'd never heard of it either but I assumed it was pretty bad.

But it couldn't have been worse than some of the reactions I got from a couple of the tables I sought a mere one dollar donation from. When one lady asked what the ailment was, I correctly described it as what my manager informed me was "muscles being able to contract but not relax."

The woman read over the flier we have sitting on the table with the sugar caddy and ketchup, nodding and then saying, "Well, it sounds like he's doing OK though, right?"

My first thought was, "Yeah, well debilitating disease and all aside, I guess so ... selfish cunt."

In all fairness, a majority of people do cough up the buck and no further thought is given to the matter. But times are obviously tough and an extra dollar on the bill—even for a good cause—is asking too much for others.

I came to realize the woman I referred to actually had a point. Whomever created the flier we're supposed to be using to try and squeeze money from patrons for obviously forgot to mention the hardships this disease creates for the kid. Instead, the disease is simply listed underneath his name, age, and city of residence. Then there's a paragraph that goes on to explain where the youngster lives, how he spends his free time, and how he would really want to go to Hawaii. Absolutely nothing about, say, the fact that his condition makes his muscles "become weak and waste away."

You'd think they might have wanted to mention that.

So, I did a quick bit of research to print out and carry with me at work for those situations in which I'm dealing with the types of people who simply can't get past that initial hurdle of thinking only of themselves.

And when I typed "Make-A-Wish" into Google's image search, this photo was one of the ones that came up on the second page. I printed that out as well, figuring that it couldn't hurt to carry that around for tables with limited English skills. After all, it might help with the tip ... assuming they've got another buck to spare.