Two Outback Steakhouse employees picked up the check for a group of Slidell, Louisiana, police officers. “They’re the sweetest guys,” server Zoë Rao told WVUE. “I enjoy waiting on them.” Rao and her manager Arline Wood, who has worked at the restaurant for 18 years, decided to pay for the four police officers’ meal to show them how much they are appreciated.
“They care about the community, they care about everybody, they’re just great guys,” Wood said. “Our whole police force is great and these guys at night, I went to Zoë and I said, let’s take care of it.” Rao and Wood paid the officers $67 bill and included a note on the receipt.
“Be safe!” they wrote on top of the receipt, with a smiley face. “Thank y’all for y’all’s service!” the women wrote, signing their first names at the bottom of the receipt. “Enjoy y’all’s meal on us!”
The next day, the Slidell Police Department shared a picture of the receipt on its Facebook page. The post has been shared more than three thousand times and reacted to by more than 14,000 users. The attention Wood and Rao received was not something they planned on getting.
“I got a phone call early in the morning and I was like, ‘What are you talking about?'” Wood said. “People were calling me and then we saw it on Facebook, then it’s on this one and that one, and we didn’t do it for this publicity, because lord knows I don’t like all this publicity.”
The officers gave Rao a large tip to thank her for the generous act of kindness, the police department said. The Slidell Police Department enjoys sharing kind notes members of the community have given them on its Facebook page. “Thank you again so much for the life of service and sacrifice you live to protect our community,” a note shared from the Hickman family reads. “You are loved, appreciated and prayed for by our family!”
“You are a blessing from God,” another shared note reads, which was left on an officer’s patrol car window. “Thank you for putting your life on the line to protect us,” a second note left on the same vehicle reads.
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