Acts of kindness multiply: The story from one Midtown 果冻传煤 drive-thru
By Julia O'Malley
Last month, Jason Robards drove to the Carl鈥檚 Jr. drive-thru in Midtown for a burger. He made his order and then rolled up to pay.
鈥淚 just poked my hand in the window and gave the guy my card, you know? And he got pretty awkward right away,鈥� he said.
The guy kept looking at him the way you do when you recognize someone but can鈥檛 place them. Jason has a tattoo on his hand of a 鈥淏ob-omb,鈥� a little bomb with feet that鈥檚 a character in the Mario video games. That started a conversation.
鈥淗e鈥檚 like, 鈥橠o you play video games? And I was like, 鈥榃ell, yeah, a little bit. I would (play) more if I had a good system,鈥� 鈥� Jason said. 鈥淎nd he was looking at me, kind of just pausing and I鈥檓, like, 鈥極K?鈥� And then he鈥檚 like, 鈥橧 got something for you.鈥� 鈥�
The guy told Jason to come back to Carl鈥檚 Jr the next evening at 8, when he got off his shift.
For much of the past two years, a lot of us have been isolated from people we know, but also from the world of strangers, from small talk in line for coffee and smiles in the grocery store, and the sense of community that comes with it. That makes acts of kindness more meaningful as we ease back into the rhythms we left behind. Here鈥檚 the story of one of them.
Robards, who is 39, had pulled up to the drive-thru carrying heavy thoughts. He鈥檇 spent the pandemic at Goose Creek Correctional Center and a halfway house. He鈥檇 gotten out six months before, reentering a world totally different from the one he left, and he was still getting used to it.
Addiction led him to prison, but he鈥檇 gone through treatment inside. Being clean gave him a feeling of having potential, but reentry is a big shift, even when you鈥檙e not in recovery, and there are a thousand ways to mess it up. Coming back to a simplified pandemic life helped. He stuck close to family and reconnected with his kids. He worked odd jobs and sold sneakers online. But some days, maybe even that day, regret haunted him.
鈥淩eentry is a struggle,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou have to deal with everything that everybody else deals with plus what you鈥檝e done. It鈥檚 definitely tough for me.鈥�
Jason Robards at home in 果冻传煤. (Loren Holmes / ADN)
By the next day around 8 p.m., Jason had just about forgotten the whole drive-thru thing. He was cleaning his living room.
鈥淚 looked at my phone. 鈥� It was 8 on the money, right? 鈥� And then I remembered, oh my gosh, the guy at the drive-thru. And once I realized, I couldn鈥檛 quit thinking about going,鈥� he said.
So he went. When he showed up, the restaurant was empty except for a woman behind the counter.
鈥淎nd the lady鈥檚 like, 鈥楳ay I help you?鈥� and I鈥檓 like, 鈥業 was going through the drive-thru yesterday. This guy told me to come back?鈥� 鈥� he said.
鈥淥h,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 Joseph.鈥�
And pretty soon, the guy from the drive-thru appeared. He had his microphone headpiece on. He held a large black trash bag. Inside: a PlayStation 4 game console. He gave it to Jason and also handed him an envelope.
鈥溾�楢ll right, well, thanks man?鈥� 鈥� Jason said.
Joseph Rice at Carls Jr. (Loren Holmes / ADN)
Joseph went back to work. Jason took the bag to the car. He didn鈥檛 open the envelope.
Back in the drive-thru, Joseph Rice, who is 22, had been through some heavy stuff of his own over the last couple years. He grew up in East 果冻传煤 and spent most of the pandemic working on cars with his dad鈥檚 mechanic business. Most of his friends were online, and when it started getting dark again in November 2021, isolation swallowed him up.
鈥淚 was just done. 鈥� And one day, which was my birthday, I told God, just kill me, I don鈥檛 want to be here, and he didn鈥檛,鈥� Joseph said. 鈥淎nd for some random reason, I just kept on talking to him. For hours.鈥�
And about three weeks later, Joseph said, he was just lying in his room, talking to God, and he felt a warm feeling come over him. He said it was the Holy Spirit. His depression eased on the spot.
鈥淎ll of it went away immediately,鈥� he said.
And that began a kind of reentry for Joseph. He felt called to be a different person. He started making videos of himself giving sermons and posting them on TikTok. The more he made an effort to connect with the world, the better he felt.
鈥淩ight now, people are more hateful, more judgmental. People just would rather treat someone bad to get 鈥� any type of advantage than to just go out and just show some kindness,鈥� he said.
Joseph started his job at Carl鈥檚 Jr. in January. He says he sees about 170 people a day come through. Working directly with the public lit up Joseph.
鈥淚 love talking to people. I try and talk to as many people as I can at the drive-thru as long as I can. Even when I鈥檓 told like, 鈥楬ey, you know, I know you want to talk to people, but, like, get them through,鈥� 鈥� he said. 鈥淚 just love talking.鈥�
On occasion, he hands notes of encouragement to people coming by. The thing he鈥檚 learned about putting that energy out there, he said, is that it multiplies. He sees it all the time. One person pays for the meal of the person behind them, then the next person passes it on and so on until there鈥檚 no one left waiting.
Joseph鈥檚 thinking about moving to Springfield, Oregon, and then maybe traveling the country after that and preaching. He had decided to give his video console away instead of selling it, so he was just waiting for someone to give it to. When he crossed paths with Jason and his tattoo, it felt like a sign.
鈥淚 thought this will not only help him, it will also make his day. So I thought, you know, if I can do that, then it鈥檚 worth it,鈥� he said.
Even though Jason and Joseph were strangers, their interviews echoed each other. They鈥檇 both been through something alone that was harder than they could imagine and came back with a new idea about who they wanted to be. You never know, both men said, what a stranger might be going through.
Jason Robards holds the PlayStation console given to him by Joseph Rice. (Loren Holmes / ADN)
Jason pulled into his parking place at home and sat for a moment, looking at the envelope. Then he tore it open. He found a note inside.
鈥淭his wasn鈥檛 a random encounter that we met. I鈥檝e been wondering how I was going to get rid of my PS4. And God has brought you to me,鈥� the note read. " 鈥� This is a sign that he wants you to be happy.鈥�
Jason isn鈥檛 religious in the same way Joseph is, but believing in a higher power is central to his recovery. It wasn鈥檛 till the last part of the letter that he felt something inside him give way.
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 matter what you have done,鈥� the note read. 鈥淕od loves you.鈥�
Joseph included his phone number. And $40 cash.
鈥淚t was a good time in my life to have reassurance that I鈥檓 doing good, like, no matter what I鈥檝e done in the past,鈥� Jason said. 鈥淚t was a God moment, you know?鈥�
Joseph saw him as a person with potential.
And that鈥檚 how Jason found himself weeping in his parking place on a Wednesday night in March, with a new PS4 in the passenger seat. He still has the $40, he said, and he鈥檚 waiting to run into the right stranger to give it to.