It's the little things.

Sometimes you get a customer that inspires you to do your job extra well. We have one such customer that comes in almost every week with her young son. She usually has one chai latte and a kids chocolate milkshake and then orders a bunch of take away coffees to take back to her colleagues at work.

Every time we see her she is bright and bubbly, always ready with a huge smile and genuinely wants to know how we are and what news we have to share. At first, I thought she couldn't possibly actually be that nice all the time. And then one day as she was leaving I happened to be clearing one of the outside tables and witnessed her call out to a stranger who was putting mulch on the garden next door. "Good morning" she sang out in her cheerful voice. "What a lovely day it is and that garden looks fantastic". And with that she loaded her son and her tray of drinks in her car and went off to work.

It really doesn't take anything special to make us hospitality drones feel warm and fuzzy towards a customer. The shining beacons of hope for humanity are the ones who treat us like real people, who are kind and warm and friendly. The ones who are patient when we are busy and show some appreciation when we go the extra mile for them. The ones who respond with "hello, I'm fine thank you" when we say "Hi, how are you today" instead of responding with "Skim cappuccino and raisin toast". The ones who hang up their phone when they are ordering and are actually present in that moment. This lady is all those things and more. She brightens up our day with her effervescence and reminds us of the good things about working hospitality.

That's why when we see her walking across the parking lot, we start preparing her beverages right away, and when she decides to order extra coffees with her take away order, we are happy to help her carry them all to her car. It's the little things really....