This spring looks like it's going to be a good one.
That's because things have been going smoothly recently. You could even call it a virtuous cycle.
Well, for those of you reading this, you're probably thinking, "Who cares about other people's good deeds?" but I do think that maybe my good deeds can have a chain reaction of causing good deeds to someone else, so I'll go ahead and write a little about it.
Good thing number 1.
We were able to hire good staff for Bokumo.
Until now, Bokumo has mostly hired staff through referrals rather than through recruitment media, but this year we placed a job advertisement for the first time in a long while.
Although there were two people who made appointments but did not show up (which was expected), I was able to interview more people than I expected.
At the end of the interview, one woman asked me the name of a person I knew, "Excuse me, do you know XX in XX City?" I was surprised when I replied, "Oh, that person is someone who has been kind to me for a long time and who always checks up on me and the chef."
"I'm his niece."
Oh my!
This made me think that they might have come through a referral, but that didn't seem to be the case.
When applying for a job at Bokumo, he was researching what kind of store it was and discovered that the owner, a man named Iwasu, was connected to his aunt on social media.
However, he apparently didn't tell his aunt that he was going to an interview with Bokumo.
I guess there really is such a thing as fate.
Naturally, another reason for the selection was, "There can't be any doubt that she is the niece of that kind person," and we were delighted to hire her.
I've been here five or six times now, and thanks to the help of my senior Yuri-chan, who is a great teacher, it's going very well. I'm grateful.
Good thing number 2.
My daughter was accepted into college and came to eat at Bokumo with her friends.
I think it must be really tough for students taking exams during the COVID-19 pandemic. I also think that their families were on edge because of the coronavirus.
This past year, it felt like a lot of worry was weighing on our household, but my daughter did a great job in the face of it all.
Immediately after the results were announced, she came to Bokumo for dinner with a friend she had been close with for three years in high school. The friend brought some cookies to the restaurant, which surprised me. Well, I'm glad my daughter has such great friends.
They were chatting happily in the restaurant, which made me happy to watch. They also received surprise gifts from the chef and regular customers, so it looked like they were having a good time.
I wonder what it was like seeing my father working at the office for the first time.
Good thing number 3.
There are more and more days when the restaurant is fully booked on Fridays, Saturdays, and the days before holidays.
I think it's proof that the disaster is passing. This Wednesday was the day before the holiday, and thanks to you, the restaurant was completely full. Seeing that scene, I thought to myself, "Oh, it's been about three years since I've seen a restaurant look like this."
However, as always, there are still many days during the week when I feel like I have a lot of free time.
I think there are still many people who have had the "fun of drinking on weekdays" taken away by COVID-19.
But I do feel like bars are finally starting to be seen as less of a villain. It must have been really tough to be treated like a villain for so long.
Bokumo will continue to offer its special deals from Monday to Thursday, so please come along if you'd like.
From now on, I would like to step it up a notch and make it a fun store.
As I wrote this, I realized that for me, "good" does not mean "the present moment is good", but rather "it is good because it makes the future feel bright" .
We've been able to hire a good person, and we're hopeful that Bokumo will be able to welcome many customers in the future.
I hope that my daughter will be able to move forward while gaining new experiences as she starts university in the spring.
The store is becoming more lively, and I'm excited that this year may be the year of the long-awaited revival of the restaurant industry.
I realized that they perceive this premonition that the future is going to get better as a "good thing."
But in reality, we know that the future won't always be as good as we expect.
I know that there will be some depressing events in the future. I've been alive for 47 years now. Good fortune and bad fortune are like a rope that can't be tied.
When that happens, look back at posts from times when you were having good times, like today.
I hope that you can use this as a way to change your mindset and make yourself think, "Good things will come again."
When you're going through a tough time, if you can get encouragement from your past self and develop the attitude to move towards the future, then that's a good thing.
