A Life Lesson from Paul McCartney: Letter from America 6

Just in time for Thanksgiving, a true story from one of the world’s great musical legends.

The manager had tears in his eyes.

I thought, “Oh no! This could go really bad. Is Paul McCartney a jerk-rock star in the mould of Mick Jagger? Was he rude to everyone? Did he run off without paying the bill?”

New Haven does pizza.

We are supposed to have the best pizza in the world. There are four restaurants founded by immigrants from Naples, Italy who still use coal-fires to make thin crust pizzas laden with American ingredients.

In the same way, universities have fierce, internecine sporting rivalries, the population of New Haven is divided between which of the four famous pizza restaurants makes the best apizza. There are families feuds over the subject. The lines for each of the restaurants stretch around the block.

Like everyone else, I have my favourite and I took some Canadian friends recently to it. By a master stroke of strategy I took them at a time when there was no line up and the manager greeted us personally. He boasted of the famous people who had eaten at his restaurant. It was then that he dropped the bombshell that the week before one of the most famous and influential musicians in the world – Paul McCartney of the Beatles – had been there.

Strangely, he was not smiling but he seemed genuinely emotional effected about McCartney’s visit. I asked him what had happened. The manager replied, “He came last week with one of his grandchildren who is at one of the local universities. He stood in line with everyone else. We didn’t even know it was him until he came in the restaurant. McCartney said, “Look, I just want to eat a pizza with my granddaughter. So please no photos or pictures of any kind. If people wait until I finish I my meal, I will sign anything, any one wants, but please no photos.
So that is what he did, he was a total gentleman. We sat him in a corner booth and after his meal anyone could go up and he would sign autographs, shake hands…

But then do you know what he did? He went into the kitchen and talked with all the dishwashers and workers. He was in there for about fifteen minutes. When he came out, he hugged all the guys there and left.

Afterwards, one of the dishwashers came up to me and said, “Paul McCartney knows my name! He knows the name of my children! He has been here one night and he knows that… I have been working in this restaurant for a year and you have never taken the time to get to know me like he did.”

The manager stopped and looked down, visibly moved. “I have learned to be a better person, a better manager because of Paul McCartney. I thought I was doing things well but he taught me to stop looking the unimportant stuff and start looking at my people.”

The questions for ourselves is obvious: How are you doing in that regard? Do you know the names of the people who clean your office? Serve you coffee? Do you know their stories? The names of their children? If a celebrity like McCartney can take 15 minutes out of his schedule to do it right, then so can the rest of us.

Thank you for the lessons from great souls.