More Than A Whopper

The man woke up under the bridge, he was sleeping with no shirt, and he noticed his backpack was gone, vanished. It might not have been a big deal, under ordinary circumstances, but that backpack contained all the man's earthly possessions.

He had to walk down to the Burger King, to apply for a job. In the town of Dover, Delaware, the manager was an icon of sorts. He was known for a man that believed in second chances, of lobbying for your state benefits, and of just basic human kindness. He also was known for his kindness towards children, the rumor was he personally bought out a Burger King Crown, for every child who was eating on his shift.

He felt the breeze on his bare chest as he was walking down the highway, and he reflected on how he ended up under the bridge in the first place. It had to do with substance abuse, mainly alcohol, and his father's words still echoed in his ears, "and don't come back again either."

As he felt his foot hit the payment of the highway, he felt grateful for the shoes on his feet, if he wasn't wearing them last night, they would have taken them too. He sobered up under that bridge, and he was planning on securing a job, but he was under the bridge less than a week. However, today was the day, a new beginning, and he would see if the rumors of the Burger King manager were true to form.

The man grabbed for the door, and walked in timidly, and after his entrance, he felt self conscious with no shirt. The air conditioning left a cool sensation on his bared chest. Upon his entrance he noticed a man talking to a person in a booth, straight ahead. He stopped and asked a person at the counter, that he would like to speak to the manager, and she pointed at the booth that he noticed, and he was intently speaking to someone. That must be the notorious "Burger King Manager", that he heard about, and he walked up and apprached him. "Sir, I would like to apply for a job, and the manager pointed up to a sign, that said,"No shoes, no shirt, no service." The man's heart sank, and he said, "Please help me, I don't have a shirt." At that point the man held his breath, and he thought that is that what it came down to, a shirt.

However, the Burger King, manager didn't budge. He simply, said, if you will wait a moment, and he got up and walked past the counter, through the kitchen, and into the back of the restuarant. He was wearing a green knit shirt, when I approached, him, with the Burger King emblem on it, and when he came back he was wearing a grey Burger King shirt, and he was carrying the fancy knit shirt. He tossed, the shirt in my direction, and said, "Here, go into the bathroom, and put this on, and wait until I get through interviewing the person I am with now, and I will interview you. I couldn't help but thinking, wow, this guy literally gave me the shirt off his back. I had never experienced that before. His kindness overwhelmed me.

I took a seat, and waited, after changing my shirt, until it was my turn to interview. I told him he had a reputation around town of helping people, but he just humbly replied, "Don't believe everything you hear, I heard I have a reputation, of being a bastard to work for."

The manager listened intently to my story, and I told him about the substance abuse and the alcohol, and how I ended up under the bridge, and he acted unaffected but not disinterested. He surprised me, by saying, "I have a need for a Porter, do you think you would be interested in that? I was amazed, and I couldn't help being a little excited. He continued, "we have to get you in a homeless shelter, I can't have you, coming here from under the bridge in the morning. Let me see if Shepard's Place has an opening, and let me see if the Goodwill has any vouchers. I can tell you this I won't tolerate tardiness, if you are late one time, without a good excuse, - you are fired.

The man was absolutely amazed, at the precision that the manager spoke, and the man said, "So I got the job,- that's it.". "You certainly got the job, I have needed a porter for a long time, it's no big deal. Let me make the arrangements. "I won't let you down," the man said. The manager just turned toward his office, and spoke softly and said, "just be to work on time, I don't tolerate tardiness. "Do you want your shirt back, Sir?" "First of all don't call Sir, call me Rick, everyone does, and no you can keep the shirt."

The man moved into the Shepard's Place, and he walked from there to Goodwill and got some clothes, and he began work in two days. The man worked there and after one year, the kind manager whom everyone called Rick left for a position at the Waffle House. Rumor had it that his reputation followed him down to the Waffle House.

The man worked there for two years, before securing another job, in Construction, and he followed the Manager whom everyone called Rick, on Facebook. Everyone knew that his name was Richard Jacobs.

One day he logged on to Facebook, and his mother had posted on his timeline:

"Help me find justice for Richard!!

Help me find the murderer of my son! Help me find the person who put twelve bulets into my son at close range. Please help me,--- someone out there knows something!!!!

The man posted on Rick's timeline himself, begging for people to tell what they knew.

His post read as follows:

The man was my manager, he literally saved my life. I beg of you, tell what you know. If anyone deserves justice he does, and his family as well. This was a human being, that helped everyone else, now help his Mother find justice. I beg of you.................

Rick had a series of small wins in his lifetime, this was one of the times, it turned in to be so much more.

One of the times, he changed someone's life for the better.

This turned out to be a large win. It was an injustice that he didn't see what his kindness did for others, or perhaps he did?????

Why would anyone take his life???

Richard L Jacobs Jr. was brutally murdered on March 27, 2015, at 11:20 pm.

The Delaware State Police along with US Marshalls closed the case when Anthony McDonald, the person they believed to be responsible, was found dead in Silver Lake in November of 2017.