pay it forward. alternately titled in which i sound like i’m not drunk so much as on crack with my hyper-ness.
Aaah. All this philanthropy has gotten me thinking.
Something else I try not to do unless it’s truly necessary.
Randy’s birthday blog.
Courtney wrote a blog post the other day about the ripple effect, and a couple about karma.
Pay it forward.
It’s like karma. Only the idea is to do something nice for someone completely unexpected and expecting nothing in return.
WHICH. I. LOVE. DOING.
How do you pay it forward?
It’s as simple as looking someone in the eye when you meet them on the sidewalk.
My ABSOLUTE FAVORITE THING TO DO FOR STRANGERS IS THIS: (also, YES. I am SO CRAZY about this that it makes me TYPE IN RANDOM CAPS.)
Anyblah. (lilu said I rocked it. YES!)
Waitresses. (this is so easy, you guys, seriously.) (or hostesses) – when you get seated at a restaurant, nine times out of ten, they will say words to the effect of “how are you guys tonight?”
Do you answer them:
- Fine/good/whatever
- Great, thanks
- Great, thanks, HOW ARE YOU?!
Guess which one I do?
And oh my gosh. It is the BEST.
I started my “customer service” career when I was in high school working at KFC. You would probably be surprised at how cranky people get over chicken. It wasn’t ever really often, but holy crap. there were days I HATED my job just because the customers SUCKED sometimes. Then over Christmas break my freshman year of college, I worked at a coffee shop in my hometown for the mom of one of my friends and LOVED IT. coffee makes people happy! So if you’re keeping track so far: chicken=crabby, coffee=happy. When people would come in and ask me how my day was, even if it was the. Worst. Day. Ever, it was always better. Almost better than a good tip. Seriously!
The summer after my sophomore year, I got out of the customer service gig and went to work for the government. My old boss is this dude who plays Santa Claus during the Christmas season. I worked for him two summers in a row, and when we would have lunch somewhere the first summer, he was very much a part of the “great, thanks” club. Santa Claus. SANTA DOESN’T EVEN ASK WAITRESSES HOW THEY ARE. I was blown away. I explained my theory to him and why I thought it was important, and how much it affected me – either as the waitress or the customer.
We met for lunch over spring break to discuss the terms of me going to work for him the second summer, and when the waitress seated us and asked how we were, he said “great, thanks, how are you?” and I WAS SO PROUD.
He told me that he had really taken to heart what I’d said about how it just makes someone’s day when you ask them HOW THEY ARE. And then he’d made a concerted effort to start DOING IT. AND HE DID.
And friends? It was magic.
I’m sorry I’m such a sap about this, but HOLY POTATOES IT IS THE BEST EVER.
So here’s my challenge for you (we’re starting this pay it forward kick small, people): if you don’t already, next time the waitress/hostess/whomever asks you how you are, ASK THEM BACK.
Pretty soon you’ll find yourself doing it to everyone. And after that, it will be a reflex.
Did I mention how awesome it is?
Do you already do it? Why? Tell me stories!
Yes, I do it. Because my daughter explained to me how it made her feel when people took the time to ask her back so now it’s a habit for me to ask. You would be surprised how many times part of their (waiter/waitress, host/hostess, customer service person) response is “Thanks for asking!”.
You are such a good influence on your momma!
cashiering, nearly everyone replies that way, and i love it. the ones who don’t are the ones who are obviously already hating life for the day or distracted by something else. but mostly, i get the good, and you? response. it’s wonderful.
Girlfriend! My dad has always been really crazy about customer service, and whenever we would go to stores or restaurants where employees had name tags, he would address them by name (duh, that’s why the name tags are there!)
But the fact that he did that made me more conscious of them…and I DO always ask how they are…granted it usually results in an awkward convo, but most of the time they seem happy to have been asked.