I only remember it was the second summer since I came to Beijing. After a clouded and depressing morning, rain finally fell in heavy droplets. While my colleagues gathered by the window to view the rain, I was not surprised at all. As I come from the southern part of the country, what really surprised me was the first time I saw the heavy snow in Beijing. Since we worked in the opposite office building and there was an urgent mail, despite the heavy rain, I had to take an umbrella and go out. Complaining about the terrible weather, I decided to take a shortcut through the garden. As I carefully treaded on the slippery path, I saw a warm and unforgettable scene.
To me, it was the silver lining on a rainy day. I noticed a tall and thin concierge, who seemed very inconspicuous with his quiet manner, honest smile and gentle greetings. Since I was terrible at remembering names, every time I ran into him, I simply said “hello” and then walked away. However, he could always greet everyone by their last name. Once out of curiosity, I asked him how he managed to remember all those different people. He scratched his head and said shyly, “in fact, I don't know them. But I feel it is out of courtesy to remember others' names." Suddenly, he seemed quite unusual to me. Later, I learned that though he was not very smart, he worked hard and spent a lot of time in private remembering people’s names.
It was him again on that rainy day. I was quite curious as I saw him rush out with an umbrella, so I followed him. It turned out that he saw someone pull his luggage to the hotel from a distance while soaked in the rain. As he ran closer, I heard him call the guest by his name and held his umbrella over the guest’s head all the way to the hotel. It wasn’t a long distance. But as I watched, he carefully held the umbrella for the guest and his luggage every step of the way, while half of his body was exposed to the rain. As I approached the door, I heard their conversation.
“How do you know my last name?”
“Because you were here once."
A brief yet sincere answer. The guest was moved.
Suddenly it occurred to me that what they asked for was nothing but a simple greeting or a kind gesture, from which they can feel our sincerity and warmth. It was him who made it. He was the silver lining on this rainy day. What he did moved his guest and colleagues alike. He was the beautiful rainbow that connected all the guests to West International Trade Hotel.
We will still remember this touching moment even if many years later after he left the hotel.