I gave the front desk person at my health club a $10
Starbucks gift card for Christmas this year. It was nothing big, just a small
gesture to thank her for being alive and alert every morning at o’dark thirty. Nicole
also gives great customer service. She greets me by name, always hands me a towel
when I walk in the door and best of all, she doesn’t make me rifle through my
gym bag to find my membership card. Instead, she just waves me by and says, “Gotcha.”
It’s just a little thing, but for me, it means a lot so I wanted to show my
appreciation over the holidays.
This morning on my way out of the gym, Nicole stopped me.
“You know, I want to tell you something about your card,”
she said. “It was the only one I got from the entire club. It really meant a
lot to me.”
I squeezed her hand.
“Ah, thanks for sharing that. It
makes me sad to think I’m the only one, but it also makes me happy to know that
I’m the only one, if that makes sense.”
She nodded and I felt tears coming. I tend to be a sentimental wreck most of the
time, especially after a particularly grueling boot camp session. But I felt joy
in knowing I had done something so small, but so wonderful for her.
I rarely take the little bit of time and the tiny bit of effort
to make someone else’s day. What I discovered today was the amazing payoff you
get from making that effort. I felt like the queen of the world after Nicole shared
that story.
It may sound smarmy, but it truly is in the giving that we
receive. I left the gym with a huge smile on my face and now I’m on a mission
to do something every day to make someone else smile. It might be a fat tip for
a server or kindness to a co-worker, but whatever it is, I plan to be do a lot
of little things that mean a lot in the new year.
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