It's My Pleasure

During the rush of the season I am often reminded of this quote from Dr. Martin Luther King. “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven will pause to say, 'There lived a great street sweeper who did his job well'."

I am reminded of this quote because I am intrigued that so many people in the marketplace simply don’t get it. If you know the Miller family very well (and a lot of you do!) you realize that we don’t do ANYTHING with mediocrity in mind. In fact, I don’t think that word exists in our dictionary. For any of us!

I am intrigued that store owners and the people they hire to represent them to the public don’t “get” that this is the best time of year to shout from the rooftops: you give the BEST customer service and the BEST deals and the BEST quality.

However, I am painfully aware of how few people take seriously that they are the “face” of the company they work for. When I am in line at a checkout counter and the checker never even makes eye contact or gives me my total, I am astounded that he/she even got hired in the first place. Does no one in management TRAIN employees anymore? Does no one monitor them? Do employees care so little for themselves and how they come across to the public that they simply do what is necessary to get a pay check and offer no more? I suspect those are the very people who continually complain about the economy and their employer and look for ways to collect unemployment when they are ultimately let go. They are the people who when asked “How are you today?” will reply, “I’ll be fine in 30 minutes when I can go home!”………..

MLK said it well and I heartily embrace the message. If you are going to do ANYTHING, do it with GUSTO! Do it the best you possibly can in order to prove your worth to the company. Those success stories of people who rose from the mailroom to the CEO didn’t happen because they settled for mediocrity. They worked hard and proved themselves. Every step of the way. I know it is a busy time of year and people are frazzled but each of us owes it to ourselves to be the BEST we can be in every area of our lives. I know from personal experience that what you sow you will reap!

Have a happy Holiday and go shopping with a smile on your face and a lift in your step. Hopefully you will run into some clerks and sales people who will reward you with a resounding, “It’s my PLEASURE!” (and if you want to get a good dose of that, take a lunch break and go to Chic-Fil-A where that response is eagerly expressed by everyone who works there!)