I had to call my doctors office this week and I got put on hold. Okay! Stop! Where do you think I’m going with this? I was left on hold for days? They dropped the call? The announcement kept saying, “Your call is important to us. Please hold.”
Nope. Not this time.
I called with some questions and a very nice receptionist or office manager (not sure of her title) apologized and said she had to put me on hold to check but she would be right back. It wasn’t long at all when she returned to the phone, again apologized for putting me on hold and then apologized that the doctor was out sick and said he would get back to me as soon as he got back. Again, she was sorry it was taking so long. All of this with a smile in her voice.
I was with my daughter, Sarah, at the time and while I was on hold I told Sarah, “This has got to be the nicest woman I’ve ever dealt with at a doctor’s office.” Sarah said, “You should tell her that. People are so quit to complain but never compliment.” Good point.
When the woman came back on and we finished our business I said, “Okay thank you and I’ve just got to say that I think you are the nicest receptionist I’ve ever had to deal with. You were so kind.” She laughed and said, “Well thank you! You just made my day!” I think she was honestly surprised, you could hear it in her voice.
Sarah’s right, we don’t do that enough. If you do, I salute you. I know, in my own life, I sometimes get so wrapped up in what I’m doing or all the things on my to-do list that I don’t always appreciate exceptional service or someone’s politeness. Think back on your own life: were there times when someone gave you a compliment out of the blue? I betcha felt pretty good. I know I have.
Society is so quick to call people out today. In some ways I think people go in search of “Karens” just so they can post it to TikTok or Facebook. I actually think some of those scenes are done on purpose just to see if they can go viral.
Why don’t we thank people for their kindness or good works? Most of the time we’re probably so wrapped up in our own world we don’t think about it. Maybe we think, “She doesn’t need to hear it from me.” Maybe he/she does. We don’t know what’s going on in their lives. You could be the first person that’s said a nice word to him or her all day, maybe longer.
I mentioned a few weeks ago that my goal this year was to remember a quote from Maya Angelou.
“Be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud.”
Maya Angelou
Maybe I’ll take it a step further. When someone else is the rainbow, let them know you appreciate it and it didn’t go unnoticed.
Just think about the last time someone did that for you. How did you feel? Why not let someone else have that same feeling.
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