My Daughter Served Dinner to Our Prime Minister Last Week

Originally Published on October 25, 2019

Last Friday, one week ago, our Prime Minister of New Zealand,  Jacinda Adern, came into the little cafe where my Daughter worked while on her shift.  

Jacinda came with 3 body guards: One stood at the front entrance, another covered the back door, and the third stayed in the dining room with Jacinda at a separate table and ate food.

There was no announcement beforehand, no media, and nobody in the restaurant bothered her with selfies or autographs or even questions. The most that people would do is simply say “Hi” in a soft voice while walking by if eye contact was made. That’s it.

Regarding the staff, every employee in the cafe got a turn to serve Jacinda’s table while Jacina was just enjoying her dinner with her partner, just like everybody else in the cafe.

And that’s all that happened.

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What do you all think of that?

I have lived in a few countries. The way the US and Russian heads of state move around is unbelievable. They actually have literal paramilitary forces around them all the time and areas get sectioned off for them. Probably out of necessity, I don’t argue with that. I just think it is amazing that we live in a country where a popular Prime Minister can have the above experience her own country where everyone obviously recognises her and goes out of their way not to bother her with comments and photos or even stares.

There are probably 100 countries on my contact list, so let’s consider this question locally: What would happen if the leader of your country came into a small cafe unannounced and tried to eat food “just like everybody else”?