A STORMY NIGHT

Late one blustery night, an elderly couple dashed out of the rain and into the lobby of a small Philadelphia hotel, hoping to secure a room for the night. But much to their disappointment, the hotel was full.

"There are three conventions in town," said the cheerful front desk clerk. "I'm afraid the hotels are all full."

The couple started to turn away, and the clerk continued, "But I can't send a nice couple like you out in the rain at once o'clock in the morning. Would you be willing to sleep in my room? It's not exactly a suite," he added, "but it will make you comfortable for the night."

The couple was reluctant to put the man out, but he insisted. "Don't worry about me. I'll make out just fine," he said, and they finally excepted his offer.

When they checked out the next morning, the elderly gentleman said to the clerk, "You are the kind of manager who should be the boss of the best hotel in the United States. Maybe someday I'll build one for you." The man at the desk simply smiled and thanked them.

Two years later, the hotel clerk received a letter from the elderly gentleman. In it was a round trip ticket to New York City and a note. The note reminded the clerk of the night he had helped the couple and invited him to come up to visit them. Though he had nearly forgotten the incident, he decided to take them up on their offer.

They met him at the station in New York and then took him to the corner of Thirty-Fourth Street and Fifth Avenue.

"That," said the elderly man, pointing to a mammoth new building made of reddish stone on the corner, "is a hotel I have built just for you to manage."

"You must be joking," the clerk said.

"I can assure you that I am not," said the old gentleman with a smile. The elderly man's name was William Waldorf Astor. The huge turreted building was the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. And the young clerk was George C. Boldt, the hotel's first manager.

The message? As you go through the week ahead, be mindful of judging people based on appearance alone and please remember the importance of a simple act of kindness...you never know who your act might benefit.