Five Stars for the Donuts, Five Million Stars for the Vibes…read more
I'm writing this a few days after my visit to Tiger Donuts, and honestly, the positive vibes from that morning are still lingering.
I'm someone who will openly admit that being social and putting myself out there isn't exactly my strong suit. I'm not "Mr. Personality," and striking up random conversations in public can be tough for me. But the experience I had here was so genuinely warm that it completely turned my day around.
I had dropped in looking for my fave... an Apple Fritter, but they were sold out. So I left. Drove down the street a bit to do a few errands and continue my mission of the morning to find a fritter, but struck out... so I thought about Tiger and the fact that I DID see old fashioned still available... and I really wanted a donut. So I went back... and a sole old-fashioned donut was still there waiting for me... and a chocolate one... my favorite. The older woman running the counter, Connie, was incredibly kind. They must have been getting ready to close up as it was that time, and she ended up giving me the last old-fashioned donut and a chocolate one, and even threw in some donut holes, telling me not to worry about it. It only came out to about 75 cents anyway--which is insanely cheap for donuts these days--but because of her kindness (and because I was already asking a favor about something else), I made sure to leave a tip in the jar.
While I was writing my name down on a card because Connie offered to save a fritter and call me the next time they had a fresh batch, the other woman there--who I'm guessing was her daughter--noticed my name. She looked at it and said, "Oh, that's my son's name." I told her she gave her son a great name, and she just smiled and said, "Yeah, it's a strong name."
It was just a simple, positive, human interaction, but it meant a lot to me. If you want great donuts and a reminder that there are still incredibly kind, good-hearted people out there, stop by Tiger Donuts. In fact I'm gonna have to extend that a bit (not to take away from the folks at Tiger) to Texas in general... thus far, the people here have a way above average (compared to CA where I am from) friendliness level! It's a nice change.
I actually ended up launching my new personal blog, 051878.xyz, with a whole breakdown of this exact experience because it stuck with me so much. Drop by my site if you want to read the full, unfiltered story of how a quick trip for an old-fashioned donut turned into the ultimate positive vibe.
Thank you, Connie and team. You've got a customer for life.