be kind to your workers

As the old saying goes, "You get more flies with honey." I very much believe this to be true although I sometimes have a difficult time using it with the people who are closest to me. Anyway, to make a long story short because it's late and I'm tired, be nice to the people who work for you.

This does not necessarily mean your underlings at your job, it could mean your child's teacher, the men working on your roof, or the mechanic who fixes your car. Life goes much, much more smoothly when you are gracious and courteous, even if the service you're receiving isn't as kind. What will likely happen is you'll have people who are happy to see, let alone work for you and the job will probably get done more efficiently, and hopefully more thoroughly.

When the men were working on our house during the renovations, my mom always had a pot of coffee and a plate of donuts for them. Necessary? no but they sure appreciated it. I believe this is true regardless of the amount of time the person works for you. A waiter or waitress may be with you anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours, and though he/she may not be the best you've had, it is always better to be nice. I could stray to the side of blackmail here by saying that rudeness will equal spit in your food, but I'll keep it classy and say that the main reason for being nice is just that. How many people do you think have been mean or short tempered with that person today? It may improve their day immensely if you just speak and act kindly and respectfully.

I know from working at the Polling Institute that just a phone attitude could affect my mood for an hour. Maybe I was taking it too personally, but if someone was nasty on the phone I fumed about it until someone was pleasant. Conversely, if I talked to an exceptionally nice person, even if they didn't give a survey, I hung up the phone with a smile and tried to pass the happy attitude on to the next person I spoke with.

Not only is it polite (which you know I love) but it's just plain nice to be kind to people. Pay it forward y'all and with that simple gesture you can be safe in the knowledge that you tried to make the world a better place today :)