Every person is capable of making a difference in someone else’s life.
Some people are lucky enough to do it on a daily basis through their work, with doctors, teachers, or firefighters being a few professionals that come to mind. But anyone can brighten someone else’s day, maybe by paying for the next person in the drive-thru’s coffee, or stopping to ask if someone walking in the rain or a blizzard needs a ride. Life is made up of moments and I believe the small gestures can have a meaningful impact in every moment of the day.
A few years ago, I wrote about some bad customer service experiences in St. Paul, and got a big response back from people agreeing with my point of view. I wasn’t out to tar and feather every business in town – indeed, there are some places you go where the service is just excellent. I am a big believer in shopping local, and except for the few times a year where I visit my family in Saskatoon, I do the majority of my shopping in town.
However, I have had a few experiences with some people at local businesses in the last few months that have left me alternately cold or spitting angry. I come to these places, ready to hand over my money, only to be ignored or left waiting for as long as a half an hour or more without service. It makes me feel like a dumb animal, coming back each time only to get kicked down again.
Here’s one case in point - I recently went out for a meal with my husband and kids. When I joined my family, they had been waiting 20 minutes for a server to come by for their drink orders. We waited another 10 minutes, before I finally saw and snagged a waitress in the nearly empty restaurant to tell her we were waiting. She proceeded to serve us, while we watched our original waitress laugh and talk with her friends in the back.
What was most amazing is that, at the end of our meal, the waitress who had ignored us attempted to punch in our order and take our tips. Fortunately, the young lady who had served us pushed her out of the way and took our money instead. I felt like cheering, ‘You go girl!’
I have stood in front of receptionists or cashiers and been totally ignored while they deal with some other task, without even a cursory, “I’ll just be a minute.” When they do serve me, sometimes they do so without speaking a word or acknowledging my presence in any way, which makes me feel about two feet tall. This, in my opinion, is the height of poor manners and a disgraceful way to behave. I’m teaching my four-year-old not to be shy and look up and talk to people when they’re trying to get her attention, but I’d expect at 40 years, a person would have learned this lesson already.
I recognize that we live in a province with extreme labour shortages, and I know how hard it is for employers to find good staff willing to stick around for the long term. However, that said, there are some local businesses where the staff is consistently friendly and go out of their way to help me. Just recently, I was waiting in line at the vehicle registry office with a miserable little boy in desperate need of a nap. Fortunately, everyone there was understanding and friendly, and saved a bad situation from becoming absolutely horrendous or embarrassing for me.
Some jobs must be very tiring, up on your feet all day, serving an unending line of customers or picking up the exploded and disgusting remnants of a meal that kids like my son leave under the table. But the ladies at places like our usual grocery store or our weekend breakfast stop usually have a smile for me, greet my kids warmly, serve us as efficiently as they can, and generally make my day just a little brighter.
It doesn’t take much, as I said earlier, to make a difference in someone else’s life. Maybe all it will cost you is the breath to say “Hello” and a smile.
