After a wonderful surprise dinner outing on Valentine’s Day, my husband let me choose dessert and I wanted something from Cold Stone Creamery. Upon walking in, there was a lengthy line. This is not too unusual for Cold Stone and so we joined while continuing to laugh and talk. Upon further observance, there was only one person behind the counter. ONE PERSON! ALONE!
At this point, my heart sank a little, but I did not want that to ruin my evening. Then, we were observing how meticulously (code word for ‘way too slow for me’) he was preparing the ice cream concoctions.
For the next 25 minutes, or so, we watched this employee listen to some really unique requests, prepare each person’s order, place each item in the freezer until the total order was complete, and change gloves at regular intervals (YES!!!!). He did all this with perfect calm and diligence.
The only thing that had me ready to pull my hair out was that 1 person was ordering 3 or 4 different items, so when we thought we were getting closer; it was really just slow, painful torture!
When it was finally our turn to order, we could see better the extra care he was taking with the order. He was more generous with some of the ingredients than others had been in the past, and he made sure the orders were well assembled and presentable.
Upon leaving we asked his name and thanked him for doing such a fine job under the circumstances. As we walked out, we noticed the line was longer than when we joined it.
Khaleef here: I was very impressed with this Harold’s work ethic. He didn’t show any disappointment or frustration as he listened to people who had multiple orders, or even as more and more people came through the door.
When we asked him why he was working alone on the biggest date night of the year, he simply said that his coworker didn’t show up. That’s right, he was left to work a busy night by himself because his teammate decided not to go to work, and didn’t even call to tell anyone!
However, instead of using that as an opportunity to complain, he simply thanked us for our compliment about his hard work, and he moved on to the next customer. I’m sure that most of us would have been complaining to each customer about our (insert insult here) boss for not scheduling enough people, our coworker for not showing up, or even the previous customers who had multiple orders!
I can also imagine most people rushing through each order, and not taking the time to do the job properly.
I really hope someone in a position of authority at Coldstone Creamery sees this and rewards Harold for his hard work. Of course I won’t mention the exact location or number of the store in a post, but if a Coldstone GM wants to know, I’ll gladly tell them via email.
Contentment
Watching Harold work under undesirable conditions reminded me even more about our need to be content with what we have and where we are. Anything less is a slap in the face to a sovereign God!
Here are a few articles that I (and others) have written about this subject:
- How to Honor God in the Workplace
- Contentment Through Appreciating the Basics
- Practical Keys to Contentment
- Contentment in an 89 Square Foot House
- Can You Eat Well for $1 a Day?
- How Can I Be Satisfied in Every Situation?
- Murmuring, Dissatisfaction, Discontent
photo by Yu’s Story
Your Turn
- Have you ever been extremely impressed by the way someone works? Especially if the position pays close to minimum wage.
- How do you motivate yourself to work as hard as you can, even when it feels like you’re not appreciated?
- Are you ever tempted to give a weak effort at work?
© 2012, Sherrian Crumbley. All rights reserved.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Kudos to you for complimenting Harold on is hard work. Too often, we can get frustrated by circumstances and overlook the hard work and dedication behind the scenes. I hope Harold gets more recognition for his work ethic. And…the ice cream looks delicious!
Two thumbs up for Harold the hard working ice cream guy! Working directly with customers can be very stressful at times and it sounds like Harold did a fine job given the circumstance. I hope he gets some recognition for the way he spent his Valentine’s Day
Why not send a note to the manager of the store directly? (Or just a copy of your blog post.) They will likely pass on the fact that they got the compliment to the worker. I know I always loved it when customers would do that when I worked in a customer-facing environment.
This proves that employees(good) are the best asset of any business. You should have let the owner know about this gentleman’s incredible work ethics.
I used to hire minimum wage people to work in my restaurant. May of them were extremely hard working and had a lot of skills and talents.
To keep myself at my best, I always want to say to myslef I did my best effort that day. It may be self serving, bu I know if I did my best. There are times, I know I did not do my best and I improove my effort.
I feel for the guy, having been in similar situations. It’s easy to get discouraged or frustrated when coworkers don’t follow through and then have a really busy night. Hopefully the boss tossed him a bigger pay check for delivering when the situation could have easily turned bad with someone who couldn’t handle the extra stress.
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