The Last Meal: Actions beyond rule books

Back in the early 1980s, Sterling Price worked as a cook at a pizza restaurant in Springdale, Arkansas, and this is before there were any national sandwich chains in town like Subways.

- Shivaji Mohinta

As Sterling tells the story, “A lady came in one day and asked if we had meatball sandwiches. Well, when I told her I did not, she got very upset, like on the verge of tears. So, I told her that even though we did not have it on the menu, we did have sandwich rolls and meatballs, tomato sauce, and even mozzarella cheese. So, since we had all the ingredients, I told her I could make it for her and just ring it up as one of the other sandwiches on the menu. Well, she thanked me several times and then explained that her husband was really sick and had lost his appetite and she was desperate to get him to eat something.” She had asked him if there was anything that he wanted to eat and he told her that he might be able to eat a meatball sandwich, and she'd been to several restaurants already but none could help her.