Woman Orders 2nd Beer for Fallen Soldier, Then Bartender Tells Her Bill Has Been Paid
One afternoon, a military woman and her friend went to a Buffalo Wild Wings in Washington for lunch.
Server Brian Avey was working when the woman tried to order two beers, a Blue Moon and a Corona.
As part of company policy, Avey informed the woman that he could only serve her one beer at a time.
But then the woman told Avey that the second beer was not for her. Instead, it was for a fallen soldier.
The woman explained that the fallen soldier was her brother, either her sibling or her “brother in arms,” who had died in Iraq.
He was moved by the woman’s story, and decided to go against policy to brighten her day. “I’ve never seen that happen before, and it touched me,” he said.
Avey delivered both beers to the woman, and the Corona sat at the end of the table while she ate her meal.
When it came time to pay the check, Avey let her know that Buffalo Wild Wings would be paying for her brother’s beer.
The woman was touched by the restaurant’s kind gesture, and left a small note of thanks on the receipt.
“Thank you. An act of kindness goes a long way. It means a lot to me. Have a great rest of your day. — Grateful Soldiers.”
After the woman left the restaurant, Avey did not want to throw away the unopened beer, so he came up with another idea for the fallen solider’s drink.
He placed the beer on top of a cooler beside an American flag for another fallen soldier.
And when he asked manager Dan Banale if it was okay, he obliged with just one request.
“Just do me a favor,” the manager said, “put a fresh lime in it every morning.”
Since then, the restaurant has been flooded with hundreds of calls thanking them for the gesture.
“At first it was just for her and her brother, but now it has become a memorial for all fallen soldiers,” said Banale.
The beer was displayed inside of a glass beside the flag, and as requested, Avey replaced the lime every morning.
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