Recently my wife, Pam, was in High Point, NC exhibiting her art at the annual Spring Furniture Show. One day after the show, she called to inform me that she was broken down on the roadside with a flat tire. It can be a bit distressing when you get a desperate call for help from 400 miles away.
Fortunately, we are members of the AARP Roadside Assistance Plan (the best $99 you'll ever spend) and so in a matter of minutes I had help on the way, and within an hour, the spare was mounted and Pam was on the road again.
Only one more problem: the little dinky spare that comes with your car these days is only durable enough to get you a few miles down the road to safety. That wouldn't come close to making the 60 mile round trip to her hotel and back to the show, much less the long trek home.
So the next challenge was to quickly find a tire shop before closing time and either get the original tire repaired or buy another one. It doesn't exactly put you in great negotiating position. Fortunately, Pam was able to find a Discount Tire location nearby,
and rolled into their lot just as they were ready to lock up and go home.
Not only did these guys NOT take advantage of the situation, but they dropped their closing plans, welcomed Pam in, and spent the next hour repairing the tire! It only gets better: they refused to charge her anything! Chalk one up for the good guys!!!
Thank goodness there are still people and businesses out there who practice courtesy, consideration, and generosity. According to these guys, this is company policy; simply the way they operate. So even though I had never heard of this company before, you better believe I notice one of their stores when I pass one today, and you can bet the farm that I will be visiting them for future tire needs. And I am delighted to pass this information on to the 6,000+ recipients of this email, as my way of thanking these nice people who exemplify the highest standards in corporate culture, ethics, and integrity.
The truth is that we all have opportunities nearly every day to show an act of kindness to someone, or give someone a break. Unfortunately, as depersonalized as most businesses have become, we just don't expect it any more. And that is sad.
Another ray of sunshine in the arena of kindness and generosity came from my friend Jim Bradley of
Bissett Nursery, Long Island, NY. On Good Friday afternoon, 2 days before Easter when most employees are getting ready for a hasty exit from a long week at work, I had to frantically call and ask a huge favor regarding a semi carrying 900 Trays of my groundcovers that had pulled into Long Island that day, that had absolutely nothing to do with Jim. Unfortunately, as the plants were en route the day before, the original customer had cancelled the order. Reputable businesses just don't do that, but that's another tale for another day. But the bottom line was that I had to find Somewhere to unload those plants in a hurry! A serious dilemma.
Jim graciously offered to take the load into his yard and get me off the hook that day. What a relief!Afterwards it took the better part of the next month for the original customer to finally "be persuaded" to accept his responsibility, pay us, and remove the plants from Jim's location. Meanwhile, this offer from Jim involved using his space (which I don't believe is cheap on Long Island), his labor to unload and then reload again later, his irrigation, and the inconvenience of having to work around
900 trays of plants that did not belong there.
I will not forget this act of kindness. When the ordeal was finally over and it was time for me to ask Jim how much I owed Bissett for this huge favor, he simply said, "Nah. Don't worry about it.
We've all gotta help each other."
Then it was my turn. A few days ago, I had some particularly bad service with a common carrier who ran extremely late with a delivery with way less than plausible excuses for the delay. When it was all over, and the delivery was finally made, the freight broker emailed to apologize and ask how much it was going to cost him for the inconvenience and the obvious expense that is always part of the fallout from these situations. He was literally at my mercy.
I thought about it a minute before I replied. I thought about the Discount Tire people. I thought about Jim Bradley. I then responded in the same way that I decided that I would like to be treated. Realizing that this young man could lose all his commission and more for this load, I simply told him that Murphy's Law just gets in the way sometimes, and no one can help it. And everyone needs a break sometime. Then I asked him to remember this the next time he had a chance to do something nice for someone
or give someone else a break.
Pay It Forward.
