TGIM!

THANK GOD IT IS MONDAY!

Most days I stop at the local McDonald’s for coffee.  While I love and support local coffee shops as much as I can (they are a lifeblood of small communities) the McDonald’s drive-in is a few blocks from my house and a quick and cheap way for me to get my caffeine fix in the morning.

For many months my normal routine was interrupted by the lack of service I received at my McDonald’s each morning.  In fact it really drained me some mornings.  The routine was lifeless and worse than a transactional service.  I stopped on an average of 5 days a week within 20 minutes of the same time and always ordered the same thing.  You know you would think after awhile I would get a thanks or a smile or SOMETHING.  Nothing.  It even became a game for me.  OK, someone will say at least “Hi” to me.  Come on, I can do this!   I would say an extra smiley, GOOD MOOO-RRRNING.  Zilch.  Nadda.  They would say, “please pull ahead to the second window.”  They would look right thru me like I didn’t even exist.  Every. Time.

And there was one person, she, whoever she was, that was worse than all of them.  She hated her job.  She hated me.  She hated something.  Because, wow, I could feel that negative blow right into my vehicle.  No matter what I did, she hated it!

She was like the Soup Nazi of my morning.

I even told this story to some Drexel fellow team members.  And one said, “Have you ever asked her, her name?”   I said no, but I would try, even though I had little faith in that.  She was the coffee nazi, nothing will work.

Even though I have a wide comfort zone, it still took me four or five times to muster up the courage to do it.

And then I did it.

I finally pulled up, took a deep breath, and did the following:

“Hey, we do this every day.  I should at least know your name, and you should know mine.  My name is Joel.”

She then SMILED and said, “My name is Shelly.”

We shook hands awkwardly and I thought.  Hmmm… that was odd.

The next day it happened.

SHELLY SMILED WHEN SHE SAW ME AND SAID GOOD MORNING.  AND SHE LOOKED AT ME.  NOT THRU ME.  AND I SAID, “GOOD MORNING SHELLY.”

AND THEN THE SAME THE NEXT DAY.  AND THE NEXT.

One day she even stopped me to talk to me about the lunar moon.  She pointed it out to me.  She cared about me.  And I her.

And you know I probably wasn’t looking at her either.  It had to start with me.  It has to start with us.

And that’s what we are here for.  To connect with people.  Even people you have no connection with.  And life gets better.  1% each day.

– Joel Fleischman.  Joel is Head Coach of the solution providers for Drexel Building Supply.  (drexelteam).   You can follow him on twitter:  @JoelmFleischman.  He has provided solutions for builders and their clients since 1996 and a whole bunch of other stuff that you probably don’t care about.