Treat others as you want to be treated. It’s a saying that we have all heard countless times and it is very important to implement it.

Consider the case of waitress Melina Salazar – her story shows the true value of being nice to others, no matter how they relate to you.

Describing the client Walter ‘Buck’ Swords as fussy and feverish would be an understatement. The war hero regularly visited the restaurant where Melina worked, where he complained, got angry and even cursed the waitresses for years. In fact, he was so cheeky to the waitresses in the restaurant that most of them refused to serve him.

Except for Melina, who treated all customers the same way – with a sociable smile and an attempt to make their dining experience more pleasant.

Every day during those years, Melina treated the 89-year-old man with the warmth she showed all other customers. She served him the food exactly as he wanted – hot – and at every opportunity she had she was kind and warm to the irritable old man.

The two began to trust each other. Melina took care of her regular client and Buck knew that every time he visited the restaurant he would get the same warmth and smile from his regular waitress.

But one day Buck did not come to the restaurant and his loyal waitress began to worry. Worrying from the worst of all, Melina began to check the obituaries in the local paper, confirming what she feared: Buck had passed away.

The next day a lawyer appeared in the restaurant and looked for Melina. The two sat down and began to talk, and the conversation turned from being polite to a serious matter related to Buck. The lawyer told the nice waitress how Buck had often talked about his favorite waitress, how sweet and warm she was and how he’d always expected to go to the restaurant because of her.

But what the lawyer told her later was something she could not expect.

Buck not only thought she was a wonderful woman, but also left her part of his estate: $50,000 and a car. Melina did not believe what she was hearing and was moved to the depths of her soul.

This story is proof that good deeds are always rewarded – sometimes in unexpected ways.

We hope that this wonderful woman will inspire everyone to look beyond a person’s weakness and make people treat everyone with warmth and respect, no matter what.