Learning from Others’ Work Attitudes

In our process of moving into our new home I have observed a variety of work attitude examples that impressed me over the past few weeks. Part of Living More Than OK is a desire to continually grow and improve our life experience. One way to do that is to learn from positive examples that come across our daily path. We don’t often take notice of our interactions as we are not mindful in our living. We are too busy moving on autopilot to be mindful. It is through these mindful moments we can learn to improve our overall life.

I am again looking at work attitudes as we spend so much of our waking time in our work. The attitudes we carry in our work can drain us or energize our work day. Our attitudes affect those around us in the workplace. Attitudes can also follows us home affecting those outside of work. The examples I will share are attitudes of workers I observed that are positive examples to follow.

The first recent example that comes to mind is from a hotel we stayed at during our move process. We usually choose a hotel that gives a free breakfast. This one had a waffle machine and I always enjoy the free waffles. As we went to breakfast I was all ready to make my waffle. As I walked over to the machine a bright eyed older worker with a wide smile asked “would you like a waffle”. I was surprised as usually the workers at hotels simply are there to replenish the supplies and clean of the breakfast area. Three minutes later she had the waffle on a plate for my wife and I to share. Her friendly servant attitude helped make my morning brighter. I watched her help others with coffee, juice and waffles and I could see everyone she touched with her friendliness appreciated her service. Her attitude made a positive impact on the atmosphere of the breakfast area.

Another example is from an alarm company we use for our home. I was setting up our service with Vivent and as always I did not have to deal with an irritating computer voice system. Instead I was quickly connected with a friendly worker to set up a technician appointment. I could feel her smile through the phone and her happy attitude. I asked her why are the workers at your call center always so friendly? Do they put something in the employees’ drinks to keep them friendly and happy? She replied, “I guess we just love our jobs and enjoy working here.” Now, I worked at call centers before and most people don’t see them as the most enjoyable workplaces. Yet this company is doing something where their workers enjoy working there enough to present themselves in a friendly courteous manner which helps customers who are trying to obtain help.

My last example comes from a book I am reading God Wants You Happy by Father Jonathan Morris. The book is filled with important principles how our connection with God helps to improve our lives. But in tune with my present topic, he starts out the book introducing the reader to an elderly butcher in Brooklyn. In his description he mentions the Butcher’s broad smile. An attitude of happiness and friendliness brings customers back even though his small shop had to deal with large food supermarkets coming into the neighborhood. An attitude can make or break a business. In this man’s case his happy attitude kept his business thriving against the competition.

These were just two examples I experience of many in the past few weeks. The example from the book is placed here, as a bookhead, to remind us we can also learn from examples in books. The important take away is we need to be mindfully aware as we go through our life each day to see how we can improve our life. We can be better in our workplace situations by following the examples of excellent workers we observe.

Reflection: Write down three recent examples of excellent customer service you observed from workers around you or at a restaurant or store. What can you learn from these examples to improve your work attitude?