I was having one of those days.   I’m sure that this kind of day won’t be unfamiliar to you…Nothing seemed to be going well…Computer systems crashed, customers were angry, projects were running late, stress was in the air.

By three o’clock in the afternoon, I knew that the best plan of attack for me was to see myself through to the end of the day and try again tomorrow.    Then, my cell phone rings.   It is my son.   Before I have time to pick up the phone, I get the familiar beep notifying me that someone has sent me an instant message on skype.  I look up at my computer screen and see that it is my daughter.  I see this message flash onto my screen:

“Mom, Lee is calling.  Please stay calm.”

Taking a deep breath, I pick up my cell phone and answer with a “What is it?”   No pleasantries for me.  No “hello, what’s up?”  I went straight to the parental moment where you ask for full disclosure.   The response that greets me is:

“Mom, It’s not my fault.”

What parent hasn’t heard that before, right?   It turns out that my son was replacing my kitchen faucet.  In this task the pvc pipe that sends water to the faucet broke off about an inch into the wall.  The kids tell me that it was quite a sight.  Water was shooting out everywhere, Lee was running around trying to remember where the water turn off valve is.    Valve was located…water turned off.   Whew.

After hearing this story…I laughed.  Yes, you heard me, I laughed.  It was at this point in my day when I realized that the day just couldn’t get any worse.  There was nothing left to do, but laugh.   I pulled up stake and headed home to help my son. I knew that he felt bad, but I also knew that he was so wonderful for taking on this task and doing it himself.

As I reached the house, I met him at the door as he was returning from his Dads house.  He had gone to pick up the shop vac to suck up all the water that was…yes…all over the kitchen.  He also had the name of a remodeling expert that his Dad referred him to.

I called the referral, Steve’s Paneling and Remodeling, who came over within 45 minutes.   He assessed the problem, which evidently is common with old pipe, and explained to my son exactly what to purchase, and exactly how to fix it.   He was detailed and patient with his explanation and then told my son to call him on his cell phone if there were any problems.  When I asked Steve how much I owed him for the service call, he responded:

‘No charge, my pleasure!”

What??   This guy didn’t know me, but was willing to waive a service charge?  Wow!!  I couldn’t believe it.   Rest assured that I refused to let him leave empty handed, but how amazing this was.  I had never experienced such kindness from a service business.  I made sure to put Steve in my iPhone for reference in the future. (I couldn’t find an online listing for him to link to, so if you are local and ever need a referral…just let me know…I’ll hook you up!)

As I reflected back on the day, I suddenly remembered how my day had started.  At six thirty a.m., as I pulled through my local Starbucks for my morning cup of coffee, the person in the car before me had paid for my coffee.  A simple act of kindness towards someone that they didn’t know.

This puts the whole world in perspective real fast.   Even though I was having a hard day, my day had started with a random act of kindness from a stranger, and ended with an act of kindness from a stranger.   I fell asleep with a smile on my face, wrapped in kindness.

It was Friday afternoon at 4:45 p.m. and I was sitting in the drivers seat of my trusted Passat, “Geno”. (Yes, I named my car. If I take good care of Geno, then he will take good care of me! Right?) I was waiting my turn at the Emissions Inspection Center. I had checked the waiting line status online prior to leaving the office. The online notice says that there is only a 3 minute wait. Cool! I’m on my way!

The line was indeed very short. I was the third car in line. Before I knew it, I was the second car in line. A smiling employee bounced over to my car. “Good afternoon, I hope you are having a wonderful day!”, was the greeting that floated through my open window. She proceeded to take me through the process of checking in my car and taking my fee. “Now you only need to wait another minute, and we will have you pull right in”, she said. She gave a freindly wave as she bounced off to the car that had pulled in behind me.

Sure enough, the employee in the bay quickly waved me in. With a big smile on his face, he asked me to turn off my ignition, please step out of the car and have a seat in the chair they have waiting for me. There was friendly banter between the two employees who processed my car and then a cheerful shout that they were all done!

I made the comment that everyone there was so happy and friendly. With a huge smile on his face, he replied “Oh yes! We are very happy. It is Friday and it is time for us to go home. This is my second job, and I’ve been hard at work for 14 hours today!”

It really struck me that here were people that had worked very hard. I’m sure the last thing they wanted to do was process another car, yet they still had the ability to greet me as if I was a guest in their home. I really wasn’t expecting this. I was expecting people that were going through the motions to get cars processed as quickly as possible and to move on to the next one. I was expecting to be treated as just the next car. Instead, I was a guest, and they were making sure that I was taken care of and had a pleasant experience.

How many of us have this ability? We are all capable of always treating each other with kindness and respect, but do we? How do I react when I am tired, exhausted, worn out, and want to go home? Something to ponder……

I waved and shouted, “Have a nice weekend”, as I pulled out of the bay. Wait….what?? I waved? Do people do that to the Emissions Inspection guy? I guess you do when you leave a home where you have been a guest.