Feeling the Love

It's been funny to see over the past month and a half or so, as long as I've been working at my new job as the Front Desk Clerk at a local hotel, how a lot of the time, even the smallest kind gesture, or minuscule task performed, can make somebody's day.  Alright, maybe it has a bit to do with the fact that I'm a front desk clerk, and that people don't expect anything at all from me when they arrive, but it's so easy to make somebody smile, or become a grateful friend rather than just a worn and weary traveler passing through, or a family traveling for a hospital stay with each other. 


Here's an example, two days ago I fixed the bolts in a toilet seat, which, admittedly, did take a while to work out, but figuring that a toilet just isn't a toilet without a toilet seat, it had to be done, and may as well be done with a smile.  The smile and the helpfulness earned the trust and confidence of a family staying for several days.  Getting somebody a wheelchair for their wife and helping get them settled in a room, fetching plates or plastic eating utensils, helping older people with getting luggage from place to place, and making sure that general problems that pop up, just the things that need to be done anyway, sometimes things that people wouldn't have brought up without previous confidence, or knowledge that they had an actual friend at the front desk to help out.


It's a small thing, but do your job, do it with a smile as best you can, do it not for the paycheck, but for the people you serve, and the coworkers you serve with.   Do the small things, the things that aren't in the technical job description, make friends, do your best.  It makes work, though it's still work, a much happier place for all.