The mom was a little panicked.  She had just left work and had run into an unexpected popup rainstorm, and traffic had come to a halt.  She was on her way to pick up her 4-year old at childcare.  The facility had a policy of charging a fee for every minute that parents are late for pick-up.

The mom didn’t really care much about the additional fee; she just felt bad that the staff would have to stay later than the 6:00 pm closing time, waiting on her arrival.

When the mom arrived, 20 minutes late, two staff came out to the car with her child.  One held a giant umbrella, and the other carried the child so that the little boy would not get wet.  The mother thanked the staff, and apologized for being so late.

One of the staff said:  “Don’t worry at all about when you arrived.  We’re just happy you got here safe.  And Freddie was a joy to be around.  He even drew this picture for you!”

The employee handed the mom the picture – a lovely crayon drawing of something bright and sunny.

“Freddie’s a joy to be around.  Thank you for the opportunity to care for him,” the employee said.

As the mom drove away, her stress levels dropped, her happy son was in the back seat, and the rain began to end.

What pleased the mom as much as anything about the experience was that the employees came out with a smile (despite the rain), thanked the mom (despite her late arrival), and helped the little boy to have a little joy throughout the wait in the noisy storm.

Sometimes our customers are in a position to thank us for the extra things that we do for them.  Even when we’re being thanked, along with accepting the appreciation graciously, it’s always good to provide a little thanks back to the customer.

It’s good to show that it’s not a burden to do the little extras for the customer.  It’s good to show that doing extras can be a joyful activity.

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