Kindness Fridays
I’m launching a new series this year called Kindness Fridays. You’ll still be privy to my Lighten up Mondays series (humor to start your week) but with Kindness Fridays, I’ll report on at least one episode of kindness that was recently extended to me. My first kindness encounter actually occurred in December of last year and was the inspiration for this new blog segment.
The beginning of December, I road the bus into downtown Seattle to have lunch with my sister-in-law. I allowed for plenty of time to do some Holiday shopping prior to meeting up with her.
One particular shopping structure called Pacific Place has an entrance through a Barnes & Noble bookstore. Not being super familiar with Pacific Place but pretty sure I could access it through B&N, I chose that entrance. Upon entering, a security guard greeted me. I asked, “Can I enter the rest of the mall through this store?” He assured me I could and provided instructions for me to do so.
There were escalators to ride up and down and quite frankly I got confused and arriving at the top of an escalator, I found myself right back where I started. The security guard – whose job it was to stand at the street entrance to the store – noticed me, waved, and walked over to me.
“I’m sure you gave me the correct instructions but somehow or another I translated them incorrectly.”
“No problem, let’s go down this escalator and I’ll show you.”
“Really, you’ll escort me to the mall entrance?”
“Absolutely!”
We talked on the way down and upon arriving at the bottom of the escalator, he walked me to where I could access the Mall.
“Thank you so much for taking the time to do this. That was very thoughtful of you.”
He lightly touched my arm and said, “That’s why I’m here, I was happy to do so. Happy Holidays and enjoy your day.”
Wow. Such a brief yet powerful interaction but it was an act of kindness, the positive effects of which still remain with me today.
Living: the ultimate team sport 
December 29, 2017 at 6:02 am
[…] January 6th, 2017: 1st Kindness Fridays – Mall kindness […]
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January 6, 2017 at 8:09 am
I’d be calling his supervisor…he deserves a raise! 🙂
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January 6, 2017 at 8:15 am
Believe it or not, I thought to do so, then I thought, “But what if he’s not supposed to leave his station at the door to the street? Would he get in trouble for abandoning his post?” It was a dilemma as to what to do and I opted not to but now I feel I should have.
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January 6, 2017 at 8:18 am
Ah…you’re right! Often, when I have a friendly cashier at the grocery store, once I’m out in the car, I get the store number from the receipt and call the manager. People in customer service get treated so poorly and often good CS doesn’t happen so I like to praise those who perform their job with pride.
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