This waitress was just quietly doing the right thing. A viral pic rewarded her in the best way.
Evoni Williams says she was just doing her job. But what she did made a lot of people take notice.
78-year-old diner Adrien Charpentier needed a little help cutting up his breakfast at a Texas Waffle House restaurant. Williams could have simply ignored his situation. Instead, she quietly took charge and helped him enjoy his meal without calling attention to herself.
However, fellow diner Laura Wolf was paying attention and snapped a photo of the interaction. Wolf posted the photo on Facebook, where it quickly went viral.
"This may seem small but to him, I'm sure it was huge," she wrote. "I'm thankful to have seen this act of kindness and caring at the start of my day while everything in this world seems so negative."
Photo: Laura Wolf
Williams had been saving money so she could eventually attend college. But her wait was suddenly over.
Williams had been working full-time at Waffle House since last year, steadily saving money for college since graduating high school and planning to study business management. After the Facebook photo went viral, the local mayor of her town dedicated March 8, 2018, in her honor.
"This is probably more of a lifestyle of Evoni," Mayor Bobby Hocking said. "Because she does this from her heart. It just so happens somebody got a picture of this one time of many."
And then something even more incredible happened: Texas Southern University offered her a $16,000 scholarship along with the aid of a counselor to help her enroll at the university.
Her combination of customer service and compassion struck a chord.
We all have stories about bad customer service. That's part of why someone so selflessly going out of their way to help a customer resonates on an emotional level. Wolf's photo at the time of this post has already been shared more than 54,000 times across Facebook.
It also doesn't hurt that Williams so clearly made a difference in the day of Charpentier, a stranger she could have simply passed by while going about her work.
Seemingly anonymous acts often reveal everything about our character.
When interviewed about it, she simply explained the act as "something I would do any other day." It's easy enough to look good when we know the cameras are on and the world is watching. But volunteering our time and energy to help out a stranger when there's nothing to gain or prove is truly an admirable act, even in the seemingly smallest of moments.
The outpouring of support Williams got on social media has directly led to her life potentially being changed in a meaningful way. And that makes an already inspiring story into something much bigger and better.
There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."