Last week I took my very dirty car to the car wash; I was glad that I remembered to take it in on Tuesday. Every Tuesday is “Ladies Day” at Danny’s Family car wash (link has locations) and they give me a small discount. Imagine my surprise when the cashier rang up the regular price with no discount! “Isn’t there a discount since it is Tuesday?” I asked. She thought a minute and then said, “But it is Wednesday.” I really believed it was Tuesday and she could tell; she laughed and added, “For a minute there I had to think if it really was Wednesday!” Here’s the cool part, she gave me the discount anyway. She punctuated it with a big smile and, “Have a great day!” It was a whopping total of $2.00; but it felt so much bigger. I thanked her for such a nice gift and told her that she made my day.
Empowered cashiers are a rare breed these days so when I came across this great young woman I had to write about her. Think about the impact of this little gesture and the loyalty that she just cemented in place. And it did not take much; just paying attention to the customer and genuinely smiling and offering a little discount (versus being irritated and looking at me like I had lost my mind).
How can you impact the people around you with little gestures? It is the little things that add up to a great quality of life. Share your little gesture in a comment!
photo credit: konomike via Flickr creative commons