Carl...

 

Carl was a World War II vet. He lived for decades in a home for mentally ill veterans - Kenosha's Dayton Hotel. You can see him in a video made by Desire and Jeff some years ago (2003 I think). As the video shows, Carl is not too good at communicating. His deep southern accent, complete lack of teeth and maybe even his schizophrenia made him really hard to understand.

Once, his niece came to the diner (the one in the video) and I waited on her.  She was up for her yearly visit to see Carl, a trip that started way down in their home state of Alabama. The niece explained that his mental problems bgan shortly after World War II. She thought they were a result of his duties in the military. As an army man assigned to a ship in the Pacific, his job was to recover bodies from the ocean so they could be i.d.ed and sent home.

The work proved too much and he cracked.

While he was pretty quiet and sort of addled, he was a very nice customer. He never had money to tip - but most of the guys who live at the vets' hotel are on fixed incomes so none of them tip. Their morning cup of coffee is one of the day's very few luxuries and tipping was way out of their tiny budgets. But the diner employees didn't care. Carl was just so nice that being good to him made you feel really good yourself.

Some of the guys at the Dayton panhandle to make extra money. Carl preferred to try and sell things he found on the street. Watches, charms, rings, rocks - it didn't matter, he'd try and sell it. People visiting the diner (and occasionally the wait) staff felt pity for him, so they would buy the crap he offered. Or they would just cut to the chase and pay for his coffee or breakfast.

Carl never showed anger at the lot life had dealt him. He was a truly happy, totally vulnerable individual. There was something about that mixture that made people feel really good when they helped him. And in that way, Carl made people better than they normally were.

Carl passed away sometime in 2006 or 2007. He as in his 80's.