I Was Buying Into This Story About Gratitude Until.......

My long-departed Irish grandfather had away of  dealing with the nonsense I'd spout when I was an under-achieving and over-complaining college student.  It was always a quick quip, delivered in his brogue and with a smile.  When he had heard enough of my complaining  he'd just smile and say "Ah, Mikey, things could always be ninety-five percent worse as easily as they could be five percent better."  It was his way of reminding me to be grateful for what I have. 

And I do try every day to be grateful for the people I  know, the strangers I meet, the grace and forgiveness I have been given, and just about everything else.  Except the Cubs, maybe.  But I digress.

I was reminded of being grateful and of those conversations with my grandfather today when I read this interesting article about a family that opened a restaurant based on gratitude.  And their success allowed them to expand and to open several more locations.

The restaurant is named Café Gratitude, and it's vegan, natch, but set that aside for a moment.

 The menu is broken down into affirmations, so instead of asking your server for the cereal blend of coconut milk, pecans, seasonal fruit, vanilla and cinnamon, you say “I Am Bright-Eyed,” and the server repeats back to you “you are bright-eyed.” They also ask you a question of the day, like, "What moves you to your heart?"

Stay with me here.  I know you're starting to skim quickly.  Let's go further into the article.

The whole concept was to create a work environment that doubled as a school of transformation for our staff as well as the customers. Our parent’s experiment was: What will happen if we use the workspace to cultivate the most important human values -- such as love, gratitude, connection and trust? The fresh, organic and mostly raw menu, coupled with the good community vibration, had customers coming in in droves.

Put aside the parts of this story that may not fit what you like.  The bottom line is that the owners found a formula that works for them and for their customers.  They have expanded, they now serve 1,200 meals daily in their growing grateful vegan new age locally-grown restaurant empire.

That's pretty cool.  Not an easy thing to do.  And I'm grateful that guys like these can do this thing they love here in America.  Good for them!

Then I read the comments at the end of the article and saw this:

According to their Bay Area wait staff, their success has resulted, in part, from stealing tip money. As a result of a lawsuit alleging just that, they shuttered their Bay Area locations and fired everyone.

Well, that certainly is "transformational."  I expected it, somewhere in the back of my mind.  Maybe it's a scam, under all the feel-goodedness.

My living life with gratitude remains unchanged.  It is a part of who I am.  But I cast a more skeptical and wary eye toward those who use it as a business model.