It is so easy to get into our job and just do the work. We forget how much POWER we actually have. Whether you are in a cashier position, in a host/hostess position, a maintenance worker, or a cook. We all have the ability to “make someone’s day,” to make phenomenal events. Take a moment, slow down and think about it.
This is extremely important. Why did my soccer coach tell us to practice? Because when we practice more and more, we get into habbits. Our muscle memory gets to where it is second nature. We can do it without even thinking about it. It all comes from that first thought.
So, lets think about it, from the back to the front.
“Arthur, I am just the breader, how can this make a difference?” When you make that chicken sandwich correctly, and you bread that piece of chicken correctly, you dip it in the milkwash, place it in the coater, cover it, press down till your heals come off the ground, flip it over, and do it again makes that peice of chicken look amazing. It looks huge, and when that customer gets it, they feel that today is a great day, they feel they got a deal.
If you are doing maintenance, when you go outside to power wash our parking lot, and you hold that door open for a Mom with 3 kids, you may not know that all day long they have been requiring mom to constantly pick up after them, keep them in line, beg for them to behave the way they have been trained. And now YOU have the opportunity to hold open a door for her, a simple task, but to this MOM, you just did something she has been longing for all day, that is someone doing something for her. To you it may be insignificant, but to her it may be that tipping point that keeps her sane.
The cashier – You suggestive sell a cookie to the person, not just any cookie, but Chick-fil-A cookie. A warm, gooey, cookie that they did not know we had, but when they get it, they think back to when their grandma would give them huge warm cookies right from the oven after they spend the day helping her with chores. Oddly enough, YOU helped them to be in a situation that they could go back to that place, all because you suggestive sold.
The Host/Hostess – a child comes up to exchange his toy from our kids meal for a kids ice dream, but you decide to take it one step further, you ask them if they want to make it themselves. A smile comes over this 8 year olds face as he says yes so quickly its almost unrecognizable. You walk him up to the icedream machine and help while he makes his icedream cone. At this point, you just impacted his life! Will he remember his weekly trip to Chick-fil-A? Maybe. Will he remember when you took the time to allow him to make his cone? Yes he will, and at some point when he is on his first date and wondering where he can go, he will choose Chick-fil-A so he can share some of the best moments in his life with someone he cares about.
Taking a nominal moment and turning it into a phenomenal event is what we have the ability to do. It may not happen all the time, but it will happen, and it will happen when you are not expecting it.
Whether its working for Chick-fil-A or any business, or just in life, we have opportunities daily to make an impact. When that voice inside you says it wont matter, just remember that it could matter, and today could be the day!