I had lunch with my mom today, braving the rain as she parked next to Sizzling Lunch in Cupertino, just along the street. As we got out of the car and headed toward the door, we quickly realized, to our surprise, that the door wouldn’t budge.

The rain drumming a subtle rhythm against the awning that appeared more decorative than practical, we headed toward the two other doors on opposite sides only to be greeted by a pink sheet of paper that read, quite literally, “Use the front door,” the exact door we had just tried. 

But isn’t that…

Slightly desperate (as it was raining, after all), we gave the doors another tug before returning to the front door. There, we noticed the flashing “OPEN” sign. 

The place was open, alright.

But the door still didn’t budge.

Sizzling Lunch, for those who don’t know, opens at 11 a.m. on Sundays, and as a regular customer (like regular regular), I could only be surprised. We were by no means early. I started to wonder if today was some odd holiday I hadn’t been notified of. Or, I just forgot. I mean, there wasn’t a Google Doodle or anything.

Worst-case scenario: the place had closed down within a week’s time, and someone forgot to turn off the “OPEN” sign.

That’d suck.

But I wasn’t quite ready to give up.

The last thing I wanted to be in the history books for was “Getting wet with Mom trying to figure out if a flashing OPEN sign means anything on a Sunday.”

Okay, maybe that was a bit dramatic. 

With Google and my phone being uncooperative, I did the only thing I could think of: peep inside. For those who don’t know, Sizzling Lunch never has their lights on during the daytime. They have lantern-like lights that they turn on during the later hours of the day, but otherwise they rely on sunlight.

And sure enough, it looked empty inside.

Do we just give up? Find something else to eat?

I mean, it looked to me like there might’ve been someone in the corner, but what I was seeing through the tinted window wasn’t very clear. Or hopeful.

What I was seeing could easily have been a chair.

Is that an employee?

Well, come to think of it, if there had been someone in the store, I would have expected to be helped by now. It was raining, and they probably noticed two people (us) circling the store visibly frustrated, which could only mean one thing. We were hungry, wanted to eat, and committed to eating Sizzling. 

So it was a chair.

Concluding that the store couldn’t possibly be closed without something to denote that it was closed, my mom, in an act of freak might (likely out of hunger), placed her hand on the front door handle before giving it a firm tug, and sure enough, it opened.

I guess some doors just need a little more tug. Or, as my mom likes to say, given how often the front door of my dorm is broken, a little more care and love.