A LITTLE KINDNESS GOES A LONG WAY

 I love donuts. Apparently I’m not alone—National Donut Day was June 7. But I celebrate most days, since a donut is my favorite breakfast. 

Donut worship goes way back in my family. When I was a child, I remember my mother periodically coming home with a dozen donuts. But that never made sense to me, since my mother had a set of rules to go with the donuts. For my sister, she shouldn’t eat them because her face might break out from the sugar. (Is that a real thing?) Same for my brother. For my father and me, we didn’t need the extra calories. And my mother didn’t eat them often. So, why did she buy them? My father was a physician, and his office was attached to the house through the garage. We had a freezer in the garage, and on donut day, my mother would ask my father to put the donuts in the freezer when he went through the garage to the office. One day, my father got disgusted, so instead of putting the donuts in the freezer, he put them in the trash can. But my mother continued to buy donuts anyway, and I continue to love them.

Our local supermarket just finished a year long renovation. It was rather chaotic, and one of the victims of the restructure was my beloved vanilla frosted raised donut. For a few weeks, when I’d go to the market, they didn’t have my donuts. I waited patiently for about 2 weeks, thinking that it was just a fluke. But I finally had to take action. I had the contact information for the assistant to the president of the supermarket chain and wrote to her. Remember, I don’t use my contacts frivolously, but hey, this is about donuts, not to mention the other missing or misplaced items. She forwarded my email to a store manager. While my expectations were low, I’m fed up enough with the post-COVID supply changes, and this donut insult sent me over the edge. I wrote to the store manager about my donuts, the fact that I couldn’t find cole slaw, and other problems. Much to my surprise, I received a very timely and heartfelt apology, with some real plans to rectify the situation. The manager said that there was no reason that they couldn’t make an extra tray of my favorite donuts. And the next week, there they were— my beloved donuts. He also sent a photo of the new location for cole slaw and researched the other missing items. I was very impressed—no excuses, no wiggling out of a difficult situation—just a sincere and honest attempt to make a customer happy. As always when escalated contacts are excellent, I thanked him profusely. 

A few weeks after the donut crisis, I needed horseradish. I’m picky about brands, especially horseradish. I couldn’t find it in any of the usual places. There was a store associate stocking dairy items, and I asked him where the horseradish was, noting that I don’t want Gold’s; I only use Kelchner’s. He stopped what he was doing, took me all around the dairy area and could only come up with Gold’s. But he really took me seriously and took the time to try to help. I thanked him, but said that I can only use Kelchner’s, though he was so kind to take the time with me. My plan was to go to another store to find Kelchner’s, and Howard and I went to check out. All of a sudden, I saw my new friend coming towards us, a bottle in hand. He’d found the Kelchner’s in the kosher section. Not only did he survey the whole store to make a customer happy, he tracked me down to make sure that I had what I needed. If that’s not “above and beyond”, I don’t know what is. I thanked him and told him that he was terrific. 

But thanking my new-found friend wasn’t enough. I wrote to the manger, told him the whole story, and asked that the store find a way to recognize such superior service. The manager wrote back quickly, delighted to hear my story, and promising to seek out my new friend and find a way to reward him—take him out to lunch—something. I felt so good to know that there are still people who care about others and there is management that really appreciates hard working staff!

Although I generally thank people who are helpful, I started to think that perhaps more recognition could spread and make a dent in our oh-so-imperfect society. So I started to actively look for excellence. Like when we were in the food court in the mall. The food court looked cleaner and neater than it’s been. As I mulled that over, I noticed a lone employee, wiping each table and seat. I got up from where I was sitting and went over to her. “Excuse me”, I said. “I just have to thank you for being so diligent about cleaning. The food court looks so much more inviting because of you." Her smile was my gift of the day.

I suppose that you know that I’ll never stop battling when necessary. And I have always tried to acknowledge good service. But I’m now making a more focused and consistent attempt to do that. While I’ll never be goody-two-shoes, we live in a world that’s getting scarily nastier by the day. If we can remember to take the time to do little things to acknowledge the good, maybe those good vibes will spread.

It’s important to rectify problem consumer situations. But it’s equally as important to recognize those who make the world a better place, no matter how large or small the issue.