You may have heard the expression, “some days we have to bring our own sunshine.” My family often teases me for being the person who is “always positive.” I take this as a compliment, although they are not always using it as such – LOL. Anyway, this morning as my daughter and I were driving home from a quick appointment, we stopped at a drive-thru for breakfast. She just got her first paycheck from a new job and we were celebrating. She bought breakfast to say thanks for my taxi service 🙂 As we gave our order to the voice behind the big screen, we sensed a voice that was less than enthusiastic. We both commented that he did not sound like he was having a good day. When we got to window #1 to pay, I observed a young man and surmised he might be rather new to the work force and a bit unsure of how to operate the big screen, computer system, and people shouting out their orders. So rather than just move through quickly, I said in my sunniest voice, “Thank you very much and I hope you have an amazing day!!” Immediately you could see him relax and in spite of the mask he was wearing, I could see a great big smile. My daughter commented to me, “wow Mom, maybe he’s not in such a bad mood but just shy.” We then progressed to window #2 to pick up our order and was greeted with an outwardly friendly person handing us our breakfast goodies and wishing us a good day. I figured I was on a bit of a roll and echoed her greeting and thanked her very sincerely for her friendly service. Again, big smile in return. As we drove away, my daughter was smiling and commented on how I probably made both of their days. She too had spent some time while in high school working for the same fast food place and started talking about how stressful it actually was and often times people are just plain mean. I told her, “sometimes you gotta spread a little sunshine.” We both laughed and then shared a couple of stories of how good it feels to make someone else smile.
So a couple of lessons here from our trip to get some breakfast:
One, it does not cost you one single cent to make someone smile. Do it every day!
Two, not everyone is an expert at their job when they begin and some take longer than others to gain confidence. We can help by being patient and kind.
What are ways you spread a little sunshine in your own little corner of the world?
P.S. if you are a business and feel like you may need to look at your new hire training program, contact me and we can talk. I may be able to help.