Woman Who Threw Burrito Sentenced to Work in Fast Food
Rosemary Hayne lost her mind. In a moment of anger and frustration, she threw her burrito bowl in the face of a Chipotle manager. It was caught on video and the police were called in. Rosemary went before the judge and was charged with assault.
'You didn't get your burrito bowl the way you like it and this is how you respond?' the judge said during sentencing.
Rather than face prison time, she put her fate in the hands of the judge who sentenced her to work at a fast-food restaurant for two months.
Click here to view the video.
If you have ever worked in the fast-food industry, you know the lack of joy, the high stress, and the absence of gratitude many people have towards the employees. All employees have nightmare stories of how they were sometimes treated, when all they were trying to do was pay bills or clothe their kids, all the while working for next to no pay. This story resonates deeply with any former employee of Taco Bell, or McDonald's, or Burger King!
Two insights into this story:
1. Scripture tells us that we are to value others over ourselves, or at the very least, equally to ourselves (Mark 12:31). Rosemary, while frustrated, needed to express empathy for the people that work hard to serve her. Instead, she exalted herself above them and dehumanized the employee by throwing the food.
2. We feel a sense of justice at the punishment Rosemary was given. And yet, it reminds us that Jesus suffered the greatest human injustice in bearing the wrath of God that WE deserved. Imagine if Rosemary's lawyer had taken the punishment , sot that Rosemary was able to go free with no consequences. We would be incensed. Yet this is what Jesus did in our place — this is the meaning of the word propitiation. Christ took our punishment so that we would be favorably viewed by God.
"Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves" (Philippians 2:3, ESV).
"Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord" (Romans 12:19, NIV).
I Know How You Feel!
Every baseball player dreams of making it to the majors, but to tie a Major League Baseball record within the first week would be something really special. Chase Wright, a rookie pitcher for the New York Yankees, did just that in only his second game after being called up from a Double-A team—though probably not in the way he had hoped.
On April 22, 2007, Wright gave up a record four consecutive home runs to the Boston Red Sox, allowing the Red Sox to sweep their division rivals in their first meeting of the season. In doing so, Wright tied the record previously held by Paul Foytack, who gave up four consecutive homers in 1963.
Rather than berate the young pitcher, then Yankee skipper Joe Torre said, "It's just another piece of experience for that kid. It has nothing to do with what he's going to be or what's going to happen in the future. I still think he's going to be special. He's a pretty tough kid."
While Torre's confidence was certainly heartening to Wright, he received some support in the mail from someone who could really empathize with his plight. Paul Foytack, Wright's partner in baseball infamy, mailed him a letter of encouragement the next morning. "He's kind of young to be going through that," Foytack said. “Hopefully, he'll take it to heart."
There was only one other person on the planet who knew exactly how Chase felt, and that was Paul Foytack. Because of that, Paul was the one person whose words of encouragement would mean the most to Chase.
God equips us, through the most disappointing or painful experiences of our lives, for the ministry of encouragement. Had Paul Foytack not had the same experience, he would not have been able to offer Chase such meaningful comfort.
It is through our disappointments that God empowers us to empathize with the very people who most need it.
“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us" (2 Corinthians 1:3-7).
The Bug Letter
They tell the story of a man who was on a business trip and stayed in a hotel that had a bug problem. There were bugs all over his room. He complained about this to the management and later wrote a letter of complaint to the main office of the hotel chain.
Sometime later he received a letter signed by the President of the company. It said: “We are humiliated that a man of your integrity, a man of your reputation, a man of your importance in the community should have had this experience in one of our hotels. We are deeply sorry.”
This made the man feel somewhat better about the situation until, as he was folding the letter to put it away, he noticed a little piece of paper at the bottom of the envelope, obviously not supposed to have been included. It was in the President’s handwriting and it read: “Send this guy the ‘bug letter.’”
[This is but one version of this story. Follow the link above for a history of this legend.]
Unfortunately, this is the way we sometimes treat other people. We send them the ”bug letter,” the form letter. We give them the old cliches: We ask them: “How are you?” when we don’t really care. We say “have a nice day," or "I'm so sorry,” when really we couldn’t care less.
The Lord said that we should be compassionate. We must truly care about others. Each day we come into contact with people who will have one thing in common: they're struggling with something. They will tell us about loved ones who are sick, loved ones who have died, loved ones who have problems. They will share with us their sufferings, their heartaches, their fears. Perhaps Mark Twain was right when he said, “You should never tell people your problems because 80 percent of them won’t care, and the other 20 percent will think you deserve them!”
Let us not send them the “bug letter.” Let us listen carefully and mean it when we say we care. Jesus never sent anyone a “bug letter.” We shouldn’t either.
"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." (Colossians 3:12).