IT COSTS NOTHING TO BE NICE
Like so many others I’ve spent the past 48 hours traveling to spend time with family. For me that has meant lots of time in the car, lots of Daniel Tiger, and lots of slow food that was meant to be fast. It also meant countless interactions with other hard working adults — some also traveling and some just trying to make it through the work day.
I’ve tried my best to be nice to each person I’ve been in contact with. Trying to build that karma.
One interaction stands out. We were at lunch at Cracker Barrel (a family road trip favorite) and they were busy. I mean we left one Cracker Barrel and drove 10 miles down the highway to the next to avoid an hour wait but the one we arrived at was incredibly busy as well.
We were seated and a young waitress comes to take our order. Then she was off to put our order into the system that would output glorious eggs, biscuits, grits, and meatless sausage.
We waited a while for our drinks and then for our food. But she came by a few times to check on us and her other tables.
She brought us some biscuits and jelly to hold us and our 3-year-old over. (Hanger management problems are genetic in this family).
Finally our food came, mostly right. We needed to wait for one item. (Get the hash brown tots).
Another of our waitresses tables was unhappy about their similar predicament and spoke to a manager.
Usually in these moment at a restaurant with slow service and forgotten items I’d also ask to speak to a manager. But this time I didn’t.
I took in the moment and saw how busy the restaurant was. More importantly I saw how apologetic the waitress was, even though I could tell she was exhausted, physically and mentally.
Moments later, the manager came by to see how we were doing. My response, we’re doing great, it was slow but our waitress managed it well. She took great care of us.
The manager said “great, it’s her first day.”
I was left astounded — who starts a new job on Christmas Eve?!?!?
It goes to show you that you don’t know what someone’s going through. Today and everyday try to give everyone you meet a chance and bit of grace.
It costs nothing to be nice and sometimes being nice can really make someone’s day. I hope that my compliment to the manager made our waitresses day a little bit better.
“Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. You can help them win.” — Joseph Wells
This article was originally written on Medium.