So, here’s what happened. There’s this patient who I will call Larry. Larry is an older gentleman who came to us for sciatic nerve pain, which was causing him to have trouble walking, sitting, sleeping, and standing without an intense pain shooting down his buttocks and the backs of his legs. During his visits to our office, Larry found that he was getting some relief when laying on his back with his knees propped up with a bolster pillow. He asked me if I could find one EXACTLY like ours to order for his home use. He wanted the same circumference, length, foam density, and vinyl. Well, the doctor I work for has been in practice for almost 20 years, and I was pretty sure our bolster was about that old as well. I looked online for about 10-15 minutes before reporting back to Larry that I couldn’t find one and would have to do a more detailed search outside of our regular patient hours.

A little later that day, we did end up finding one that was VERY SIMILAR, so I went ahead and ordered it, called his wife, and let them know we’d call as soon as it arrived. It was delivered a few days later, so my co-worker, Kay, called to let them know it was in.

A few hours later, Kay came back to my office with a $5 bill in her hand and announced that Larry had left me this cash as a token of his appreciation for all my “hard work”. I told Kay to give it back to him and tell him I couldn’t take it as I was just doing my job, but she said that he had insisted, and besides, he had already left the office.

Since then, this has really gotten me to thinking about the society we live in right now. And I feel pretty confident that the answer to my first question, “Is Customer Service Dead?”, is YES. It makes me think of the many times I have gone through a checkout line when I’m not greeted, nobody makes eye contact, and they don’t even say thank you when you pay and leave. You can walk into any store and find the help bent over the counters looking at their phones, and they don’t even acknowledge that you’ve walked in. At the bank I frequent every two weeks, the tellers at the drive-through don’t even say anything to me until I’ve already sent the money across. Finally, they’ll ask, “what are we doing with this?” I want to say, “Oh, I’m actually having a really good day, thanks for asking”, but apparently I’m not big enough of a jerk to pull it off.

So here I am, months later, still holding on to this $5 bill. I find it so sad that Larry has come to expect mediocrity from the workforce, so much so that he thought he needed to tip me for being such an “outstanding employee”. I haven’t decided exactly how to spend it yet, but I’m considering going against my own policy and buying a $5 greeting card to send to him. Or maybe I will save it to give to someone else who goes above and beyond for me. What I did decide to do for now is to pay it forward by giving a few tips of my own.

1) When you borrow something, return it in even better condition than when you got it. Borrowed a car? Fill the gas tank upon return. Borrowed $10? Give back $11. Or give it back wrapped around that person’s favorite drink. Something simple.

2) Hold the door for anyone behind you or coming from the other direction. It doesn’t matter how old, male or female, special needs or not, or if there is one person or 10 people. Hold the door and smile. If you are lucky enough to get a thank you (don’t hold your breath), give them back a “You’re Welcome” or “My Pleasure” or “No Problem”!

3) If someone holds the door for you, smile, say THANK YOU, and mean it.

4) Help people when they need it, whether they ask for it or not. Do it because you are a good person, not because you expect anything in return.

5) Make eye contact and smile at everyone who returns that eye contact.

6) Compliment strangers, but only when it is sincere.

7) Listen – NO, REALLY LISTEN – to people when they are talking to you.

8) The people in front of you always trump the people who are texting you, calling you, messaging you, or anything else that pops up on your phone screen. For the love of Peter, put your phone away.

9) Go above and beyond for people, especially when that is the job you are being paid to do. People have plenty of choices that allow them to take their business elsewhere. And trust me, they will do just that!

I know that most, if not all of the people who will read this are not the ones at fault. But maybe if a few people share it, and then those people share it, and so on, we can make a positive impact. It’s kind of like network marketing, except instead of selling goods, we are reminding people how to be a good employee and a decent human.

Until, next time, go be nice to strangers!

-Penny