Autistic Girl’s ‘Broken Cheeseburger’ Story

I'm sure most of us have read about the 'Broken Cheeseburger' story recently. It's a touching story that I felt  I need to share with you all in case you missed it. Read on about it folks. 

A local Chili’s restaurant in Midvale, Utah, might have made the grave mistake of “breaking” one little girl’s cheeseburger by cutting it in half, but the waitress, manager and line cooks more than made up for it Sunday when they presented her with a brand new “fixed” one.

Seven-year-old Arianna Hill is autistic and she loves cheeseburgers. But apparently, ones that are cut in half just won’t do.

“We just decided we were going to get some lunch before we were taking her to see the Easter bunny,” Arianna’s older sister, Anna MacLean, 25, told ABCNews.com. “She usually does OK in restaurants. It seemed to be going pretty well. She wasn’t too overstimulated. She was really enthusiastic before we were even able to put our drinks orders in. She told the waitress, ‘I’ll have my cheeseburger.’”

However, when Arianna’s burger was delivered to the table, MacLean noticed that Arianna wasn’t touching it, but instead only eating her french fries.

“Her verbal skills aren’t the best, but she can communicate basic things,” MacLean said. “I asked why she wasn’t eating and she said, ‘I don’t want it. It’s broken.’ She said, ‘I need one that’s fixed.’”

MacLean loves spending time with Arianna, but is always prepared to come across someone who might not be as understanding of her special needs. Fortunately, the restaurant didn’t skip a beat in correcting the broken burger and their compassionate actions have now gone viral.

“Our waitress came back over and I felt bad. I don’t really expect people to understand these special requests, so I just told her to add a new burger to our bill,” said MacLean. “I just told her to charge it to us and she said, ‘No way.’ She was just so sweet and played along with Arianna.”

The Chili’s server, Lauren Wells, didn’t hesitate before leaning down to personally apologize for the broken burger and assured Arianna she would bring her a brand new fixed one.

“The manager came over and did the same thing. It was really a big deal. The line cooks even got involved,” MacLean said. “When she brought it back out, Arianna said ‘Oh, thank you! You brought me a fixed cheeseburger.’ She sat there and looked at it and said ‘Oh I missed you,’ and kissed it over and over again.”

MacLean was so touched by the staff’s compassion and understanding that something as minor as a cut-in-half cheeseburger would be enough to ruin Arianna’s whole day that she snapped a photo of Arianna giving the cheeseburger a kiss and uploaded it to Facebook along with a brief description of how well the restaurant handled the situation.

Before MacLean knew it, the “broken cheeseburger” photo had more than 100,000 “likes” on the social media site, a number that continues to rise rapidly. At the time of this writing, the post had more than 220,000  ”likes” and 10,000 comments.

“It’s just touching,” said Harrison Dixson, the Chili’s general manager. “I had no idea. I looked at it this morning and it had a couple thousand likes. I thought someone would say, ‘Hey, good job Midvale. But I’m talking to ‘Good Morning America.’ This is just unbelievable.”

Dixson said he’s gotten calls from people all across the country, including the president of Autism Speaks, an autism advocacy organization, thanking him for the way his manager, Brad Cattermole, and server, Lauren Wells, interacted with Arianna.

“I can’t tell you how proud I am of those two. I’ve been with this company for 13 years and I’ve never been as proud as I am today,” said Dixson.

“It turned out great and this turned into something way bigger than anything I ever imaged,” MacLean said. “The comments on the post just bring awareness to people. This is Arianna’s story. And this is Lauren’s story, and the manager. They are a true inspiration.”

Tiger Comes Roaring Back

I am a sports enthusiast but at the same time, I still don’t understand golf. Basically I don’t understand their scorecard. May be I should take up a lesson or two. Ok back to the original story. Even though I couldn’t understand the game, there is one man who is “The Man”. And he has return to the top of the golfing chain. That man is none other than Tiger Woods. His fall from grace was epic when it was revealed he’s been sleeping around with other women. After all that commotion and a horrendous year for Tiger in the PGA, he is back. Roaring too I might say. Here’s an article of his latest triumphant return as number one: 

Like most of a fascinated sports world, I waited patiently for Tiger Woods to grant his post-Bay Hill victory interview on The Golf Channel on Monday. It took him about 15 seconds to get to Steve Sands for the greenside chat, and I imagine that's because he told Sands: "Hang on, Sandsy. Let me slip on this giant foam finger that reads 'I'M NUMBER ONE,' flash it toward the haters, the press and the haters in the press and I'll get right to you."

Holy smokes. Tiger Woods just accomplished one of the greatest feats of his career. Right next to winning four consecutive majors from 2000-01, right next to winning six consecutive U.S. Junior Amateurs and U.S. Amateurs, right next to 77 PGA Tour wins by age 37, I'll put "The Long Climb Back" on Tiger's all-time ledger. By winning at Bay Hill on Monday, Tiger Woods is No. 1 in the world again – for the first time since October 2010, for the first time since falling to No. 58 in the world, and for the first time since his cloak of invincibility disappeared with a public fall from grace.

And right next to that statistical fact – Numero Uno says the computer – I'd put perhaps an even more important, less numerically definable achievement: The Reclaiming of The Aura.

It's taken six wins in his last 20 PGA Tour starts, it's taken the miracle resurrection of a putter last seen in George W. Bush's first term, and it's taken the convenient digression of Rory McIlroy's career arc, but Tiger is back to being, well, Tiger.

By that, I mean The Big Kahuna, El Grande Queso, His Tigerness. No, he doesn't need to win a major to regain his status as the Elvis Presley/Mick Jagger/Jay-Z of golf. He's back in players' heads already, back rattling their comfort zones, back to the point where his name on the leader board causes bouts of gastric discomfort among the field.

Surely, you saw Justin Rose on Saturday throw four bogeys on his back nine to cough up an afternoon lead and hand the 54-hole lead to Tiger. Surely, you saw Rickie Fowler rinse two golf balls and post a snowman on the 16th hole Monday when he had crept within two shots of Tiger.

And surely you saw this quote from Keegan Bradley, a player you'd think was so young and so free of Tiger-issued scar tissue that he'd represent the new breed of challenger: "I feel like this is the Tiger I grew up watching."

Heavenly choirs and Bach sonatas could never sound as beautiful to Tiger Woods than those words from one of the poster boys of the next generation. It's the best of all possible worlds for Tiger. He spent the past 15 years obliterating one generation of golfers, only to fall on his face in humiliating fashion, opening the door for the Rory-Keegan-Rickie generation to charge in, carrying the "If It's Too Loud/You're Too Old" flag for the new millennium.

And they tried to do their parts, really. Rory won those two majors in historic style, and ascended to the top rung. Keegan even won a major and became a star. But now, over the course of three years, and with – as Tiger said on Monday after his win – "hard work and patience," those time-tested virtues, he's right back in their faces. He's their childhood TV idol, in the flesh and in a red shirt. He's a mythical figure, now very real trying to take what they thought could be theirs: victory and glory.

From 2010-12, things were different. Tiger had lost his aura. Tiger had lost his putter. Tiger had lost his health. Tiger's personal life was a mess. Rory was the new star. Everybody saw it, everybody said it. Johnny Miller said it. Nick Faldo said it. Any number of scribes, including yours truly, said it.

But things change. Putting mechanics get fixed. Young stars change golf clubs for big money. Knees heal up. New love and emotional security blossoms. Time marches on. The present is ever fluid, ever ripe for a new moment. Tiger seized on this Zen philosophy, got better, got fixed and created a new narrative.

The future is so tantalizing, so fun to ponder. Miller wondered on The Golf Channel if being relieved of the No. 1 spot will "free" McIlroy, will allow him to play unburdened. Some still wonder if Tiger can win a major now, given the obvious self-imposed pressure he places on himself to topple Jack Nicklaus. Some wonder if Tiger is a "horse for a course," meaning his wins at Torrey Pines and Doral and Bay Hill are as much about familiarity and muscle memory as anything else, that doing it at Merion's U.S. Open is a different deal.

Well, if Tiger is a "horse for a course," Augusta National is a familiar paddock. We'll see him there next, on Thursday, April 11, for the first round. You'll recognize him. He'll be the No. 1-ranked player in the world, playing like it, acting like it and, best of all, knowing that everybody knows it.