Attitude is Everything

My friend H and I went out to lunch today. You know the feeling where you don’t have the money to go out for lunch but you just need to get away from the office before you go insane? Well, H and I know that feeling very well. Don’t get me wrong, we love our jobs, but there are times you need to get away from it all. H and I get away from it all quite often. Today we went to restaurant here downtown. I must tell you that we have gone to this place before and one time, a year or so ago, we had a waitress that was so unpleasant we vowed we would never go back there again no matter how huge their baked potatoes may be!! At that lunch our waitress did not care. She acted like we were bothering her. As if she was too important to take our order or bring us our food. She was horrible. She was clearly in the wrong profession. Heather and I did not go back to this establishment for a very long time. And it was all because of our waitress. The fact that we still remember this a year or two later should speak volumes!! All because of ONE PERSON we had a bad feeling about this place. Today our waitress was Alysse. She was delightful. She greeted us by telling us her name and telling us that she was going to take care of us. She said that at our lunch, while we were at her table, she was going to take care of everything. We only had to ask her if we needed anything. Alysse smiled and laughed. She was engaging. She made us feel special. She made us feel important. She made us feel cared for. She brought us things before we even asked for them, a glass of ice, a ton of butter, a fresh glass of soda. She even asked us if we wanted to take a soda or tea to go when we left. She was attentive. She made our stressed out lunch a joy. At the end of our meal she told us to please ask for her the next time we are there. And if she is not our waitress she will still stop by and see how we are. WOW!! Talk about a great experience! Alysse is a tremendous asset to this restaurant. Do we want to go back there and have Alysse as our waitress? Well YES! Did I think about asking her if she wanted to work for us….oh you know I wanted to! In doing our jobs we need to all be more like Alysse. Smile. Engage. CARE!! Too many times we are caught up in complaining about our day, complaining about our co-workers, our bosses, our jobs. That is doing a terrible disservice to those around us and to ourselves. I came back to work today inspired by the waitress I had take care of me at lunch. I answered my calls a bit more friendly. I put myself in the place of the person at the other end of the phone or email. I tried to be everything that Alysse was to me at lunch. I can get caught up in myself and my problems and be a little snippy (don’t tell my boss), so, anyone who called me this afternoon owes Alysse a thank you for my attitude adjustment. I had forgotten just how important it is to have a good outlook! It is so very important. One person can make all the difference in how others experience the day. Remember that you are an important person, but the person you are taking care of is just as important!! They do not want to hear you complain. Frankly, no one wants to hear it. If you complain or whine or if you have a bad attitude maybe you are in the wrong profession like our waitress from a year ago? People remember the bad attitude. But they also remember the outstanding!!You can be the difference. You can be the reason this is a memorable day for someone! Go out and be the person who brightens the day for everyone.