Mr. Allman, the Unprofitable Servant

This is the story of a man. He's not unlike any other....

One day he heard of a job opening. But this was no regular job opening! A huge corporation owned by an altruistic and business-savvy billionaire who chose as a business model to pay all of his employees a salary of one million dollars a year- no matter what position they held in the company- had a new job opening.

The owner had read in the Bible about the ancient Church of Christ being compared to a body, with all of the members or appendages of the body being just as important and useful as any other. “The head can not say to the foot, I have no need of thee” principle. So he decided to start and run a company under the same philosophy, with every employee- from the CEO to the seemingly lowest- each receiving the same salary. One million dollars a year.

Mr. Allman is a janitor at a local Elementary school and hears that the coveted job opening is for a janitorial position! He wants so badly to apply for the job. He can hardly believe he has the chance to be a millionaire! It is beyond his wildest dreams.

However, he immediately doubts himself, and thinks there are many people more qualified for the job, and thinks it no use to apply. There would be thousands of applicants— perhaps millions! But, he reasons, “I guess I have nothing to lose. The lottery ticket I buy at the store every morning before work has million-to-one odds. At least this won’t cost me a penny!”

So he applies for the job.

Mr. Alman is a sincere man. He wants and tries to do the right thing- work hard, be honest, treat others as he wants to be treated, forgive those who offend him. Just love and care for his fellow man the best he can, and be a good, productive citizen.

But, he has many limitations and weaknesses. He has ALS and an assortment of other autoimmune diseases that makes it difficult for him to do many physical tasks. It also affects his sleep and makes it difficult for him to awaken in the morning, let alone awaken refreshed. The medication he takes makes him drowsy, forgetful and accident prone, and he needs constant reminders to keep him on track. He is sometimes careless and neglectful and breaks and spills things because of his disease and his natural tendency to be somewhat careless.

He worries that even if by some miracle he gets the job he will fail and be fired, because surely the standards for working at that company at that pay scale must be great! But what else could he do? If there is a shred of hope within him he HAS to try!

After several weeks of waiting and wondering and worrying, at the very moment he was about to give up hope, he received a phone call from the company.

“Mr Alman?”

“Yes. This is he.”

“This is Mary from URE Industries. I’m calling to inform you that your application has been accepted, and we would love for you to be a part of our team. Would that be acceptable to you?”

Well, you can imagine Mr. Allman’s answer, and his excitement. He just won the lottery! But even better, he has the dignity and self respect of working for and earning his salary.

Excitedly, but not without a little trepidation, he goes to his new job where he receives his first day orientation, is shown his responsibilities, and is asked if he can perform them. He says he will do his very best. And he does.

But, his best leaves a lot to be desired. He often comes to work late if he makes it at all. His forgetfulness often leaves important tasks undone, and requires his supervisor to constantly have to remind him. Because of his physical limitations, he often breaks, spills and damages things. He doesn’t pay attention to detail as he should , and as a result his work is sometimes a bit shoddy.

In addition, as a child Mr. Allman was in and out of foster homes. He was abandoned by his mother at an early age, and never knew his father. Sadly, he was regularly neglected and sometimes even abused as a foster child, and as a youth longed for the day he could be old enough to just be on his own.

Because of his dysfunctional childhood, and his shyness and awkwardness among people as a result of not being raised in a loving home, he sometimes struggled with getting along with others as well as he should. Sometimes it was his own fault, and sometimes because he was misunderstood, as was often the case.

As the days and weeks went by, it became apparent that Mr. Allman not only wasn’t doing the work required to earn a million dollar salary, he wasn’t even doing enough to earn an average janitorial salary. There were many days he made things worse than if he had not come to work at all!

As you can imagine, Mr. Allman becomes very concerned about losing his job.

What to do?

His Supervisor likes Mr. Allman. He sees in him his pure heart and good intentions, and knows that even with all his flaws he is doing his best. So when the Owner comes to his Supervisor with concerns about Mr. Allmans performance, the Supervisor does all in his power to convince the Owner to keep him in his employ.

The Owner is satisfied with what he hears, because ultimately he is concerned more about whether or not Mr. Allman is doing his very best, than achieving perfection or even anything close to it. You see, the Owner, for years before the opportunity arose that was a catalyst to his becoming a successful billionaire, was in fact a janitor.

And so, Mr. Allman continued his employment at URE Industries and enjoyed the fruits of his generous employer until it was time for him to retire. For, one of the conditions for the privilege of working for that company at such an inflated salary was that everyone had to work until the age of retirement.

On his day of retirement, a party was held for the humble Mr. Allman, as was the case for all employees upon retiring. The Owner, as was his custom, appeared at the party to give his congratulations to Mr. Allman. He thought this was not only a good opportunity, but perhaps the only opportunity to ask the Owner the burning question that had been on his mind for many years, but was afraid he’d lose his job if he asked. Now that he had reached his retirement, and was guaranteed his pension, he had the courage to ask the million-dollar question.

“Why?”

“Why, of all the people you could have hired, did you hire me? And why? Why, after all of these years of me coming in late, calling in sick, and even sometimes not actually being sick, which I imagine you knew, and failing to do my job better, and making a mess of things so much of the time, and not always getting along with everybody—

“With all of my shortcomings and failings and mistakes I’ve made. All of the messes, spills and breakages and sometimes poor cleaning job, and even with that time I lashed out at you in that disrespectful way when I didn’t get the vacation time I wanted, and even though I wasn’t as grateful as I should have been when over the years I developed that horrible attitude of entitlement—

“With all of those things, and even more that time and my pride make it difficult to speak of, why would you keep me in your employ???”

The Owner hesitated, looking pensively into Mr. Allman’s eyes.

After some time, which seemed longer than it actually was but nonetheless felt like forever, the owner spoke.

“I was once a janitor, like you. I once suffered from physical limitations and ailments, although somewhat different, just like you. Actually, much worse. I was also abandoned as a child, and suffered similarly in the system as you. I myself once suffered with all of the faults and weaknesses in body, mind and spirit, as you have and do now.

“When I was finally old enough to get out of the system and be on my own and make my own choices, I made some very foolish decisions. As a result, I soon found myself homeless and living on the streets. I was despised, rejected and disrespected. Even spit upon. I didn’t know from day to day when or how I’d get my next meal. And do you know what? With my former drug addiction I almost didn’t even care. I was so consumed with my addiction that all that mattered to me was where I would get my next fix.

“One day a stranger happened by. He saw me. But he didn’t just see me, like others do and then look away when our eyes meet. He stopped. He gave me some money, and asked me what I needed or wanted. And then he did something that nobody else had ever done, or perhaps even thought of doing.

“He asked me about me. He asked me to tell him my story. The story that led me to where I was at that time in my life. He didn’t interview me. He was not doing research for an article, or doing a study on the homeless. I was his study, or so it seemed to me at the time. He genuinely wanted to know me. When I objected and told him there wasn’t much to my story and it wasn’t worth telling, he refused to believe it even though I was convinced my life didn’t matter. He saw value in me that I didn’t see in myself. I didn’t know why, or how, but somehow I knew that he genuinely cared about me. And that was something that, sadly, I had never felt before.

“As time went on, my trust in him grew, and I opened up to him in our visits more and more about my past, about my present, and eventually about the innermost desires of my heart. One day he offered me a job at his company as a janitor. And, thinking that I had no better prospect on the street, and not knowing how I’d get my next fix, I accepted. But it was more than that. There was some unspoken, intangible feeling that attended this man, and for some reason I was drawn to that.

“Well, the rest of the story you can probably imagine. His belief in me and my potential, and the genuine love he had for me inspired me to become more than I was at that time. I began to believe in myself, and in his ability to help me become more— even if just a little— like him. I progressed, little by little. I overcame my addiction thanks to a program he provided for me and paid for. I became more and more reliable and effective at my job— even though, in retrospect, I did a piss poor job much of the time.

“But to him, that was less important than the fact that I was truly trying to do my very best. Somehow, somehow, he knew that. Somehow he knew my heart. Somehow he reconciled all of my weaknesses in performance with the desires of my heart, and it satisfied him. It was enough. That’s all he really wanted in the end- my heartfelt, very best effort. All I had to give, like the little drummer boy in the song, was all I had to give, and that was enough for him. He let me play my simple little out-of-tune song, and made me feel like it was a symphony. He was the most amazing man I have ever met.

“Eventually, following his example to the best of my ability, I started and grew my own business- patterning it after his- to become what is now URE Industries and amassing the great wealth I have today. When I see people like you, I want them all to have the same opportunity that I have had. Because of what that man did for me, all I really want and expect of you and others is that you do your very best. And in my estimation you have.

“Have you not???”, the Owner asked inquisitively.

His mind still reeling from what he had just heard, and struggling to process it all, let alone formulate an answer, Mr. Allman finally absorbed the question and, giving it some sincere thought, answered.

“No. I don’t feel like I gave my best effort all the time” was his honest, sober reply.

“Did you WANT to do your best all the time? Was that, deep down, the desire of your heart?”, replied the Owner.

“Well... I think it was. I believe it was.... At least it was what I yearned for....”

“Then it is enough. I can afford to make up the rest even though you didn’t actually earn a million-dollar-a-year salary. And, frankly, your work was actually commensurate with less than the average janitorial salary. Don’t you think I knew that your work was not worth a million dollars a year!?” the owner said glibly, as if to knock Mr. Allman in the head back to reality.

“I know that your work was not worth a million dollars a year. Actually, if I were to be completely honest, over the course of your employment— factoring in the expenses incurred to repair the damages you caused to company property that had to be replaced, repaired or renewed, even without counting your million-dollar salary— I lost money.”

Shocked. Shocked at that reality and being awakened to his somewhat awful situation, and shocked that the owner knew every detail about his past life, Allman stumbled in a futile attempt to ask the questions streaming through his mind.

“Wait... what? ... why did you... how did you....”

Finally gaining enough composure to formulate a coherent question, he spoke.

“How do you know everything about me and my past??? And why would you keep me employed all these many years when you knew I was doing such a poor job? Even if you knew I was doing my best, why? Why didn’t you give the job to someone who’s best was better than mine? Why me???

“Why me!”, he practically shouted in confused frustration.

“That’s a very good question”.

“When I looked at your application, I noticed some things about you that made me curious. So I had some background research done on you— I hope you don’t mind.”

Staring at him, Mr. Allman, as if in a trance, simply shook his head....

“You were born in Brooklyn, NY, were you not?”

“Yes. In Kings County. That much I know about my past.”

“You were born to a Shelly Allman?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“When I was in your shoes, and was free to make my own choices without anybody telling me what to do or standing over me watching, I made some serious mistakes— as I’ve already shared with you. One of these had to do with a certain young lady, when my choices were nothing more than to get what i wanted at the moment, regardless of the consequences. Her name was Shelly Allman.”

A long and lingering silence ensued. It was like an unseen blanket slowly and gently descended upon them, enveloping them both in increasing light and love and warmth.

Choking on his words, the owner broke the silence.

“Mr Allman...... John...... son……..”.

“I am your father….”.

Head spinning.... room spinning... world spinning.... Mr. Allman- John- was struggling to make sense of what he thought he had just heard.

“It is because I am your father, and you are my son... and because I love you... that I have kept you in my employ all these years.”

Mind still racing, reality turning upside down even as he sat there, he silently thought, “How could this be? Why would this be? Could fate have really made this so? Is it true? If it were true, why wouldn’t my father, if he really was my father, have told me years ago when his investigation uncovered the truth?”

Mr. Allman- John- sat there, mouth still agape, speechless.

“I know what you are thinking. Why didn’t I tell you earlier. Why didn’t I tell you as soon as I found out. Why did I let you spend so much of your life in darkness. Why didn’t I run to you, embrace you, call you son and take you not only into my arms, but into my life. Make my life your life. Share everything I have and everything I am with you. Why!

“It is because to share everything I am with you, and to make my life your life, would be to let you experience everything I have experienced that made me who I am. I knew that for you to become the person I knew you could be, and the person you and I both wanted you to be, that you had to experience for yourself the very things I experienced. Even the very things I suffered. Because the things I suffered have shaped me into the man that I am. They have been my refining fire. They were my schoolmaster to teach me the things that I could learn in no other way.

“My heart broke...” said the Owner, now not only finding it difficult to talk, but with tears streaming down his face….

“…so many times my heart broke.… I wanted nothing more than to embrace you. To run to you. To pay your debts. To take away your addictions and all of your trials, tribulations, sufferings and struggles. So many times I wanted to tell you who I am. And who you are. And who I knew you could be.

“It took all of my strength to resist. But resist I had to if I wanted you to have the greater gift. The greater blessing. That of becoming the man you were meant to be. The man who, above all, wants to do what is right. Who has compassion and empathy, yes even love, for his fellow man. Which gift and character trait you could not have received or become without suffering the things you have suffered.”

Silence.

Neither man spoke a word. They each sat there. The Owner, looking at Mr. Allman- John- and Mr. Allman looking down, contemplating... contemplating... contemplating....

So many thoughts ran through his mind as he sat there. “How can this be? Is it really so? Was all of that really necessary? Is this man really and truly as wise and as loving as he seems? What is real!!!”, he shouted within himself.

His mind turned back to his employment, and the unfathomable reward he had received for his shoddy work. All of his faults and mistakes and things he broke and ruined and the absences and tardiness and forgetfulness, and the rudeness and so on and so on and so on. He could not even count the many mistakes he had made while in his employ. And yet he was awarded so generously. He was so happy! Every earthly blessing he could think of, including the priceless, incalculable blessings like love, joy and peace he had received. Every dream he had ever imagined in this life had come true for him and his family.

He was beginning to well up with gratitude inside for all of these blessings... and even the blessing of having learned by his own experience, the hard way, how to appreciate life and love and joy and peace, and to develop true love and empathy for others through the things he had suffered....

When, all of a sudden, he remembered... he thought... he realized... he knew….”

“Father!!

“Father!

Father.....”

And they embraced for the first time....