Year after year, speaking engagement after speaking engagement, employee training session after employee training session I have preached the importance of a smile. I have preached it so often, that I think I became numb to how much I believe it has impact on others.
This young man dawning his orange uniform in the picture, was a passenger in a company truck riding along side my tour bus. We were in traffic for approximately 25-30 minutes and not once did I ever see him without a smile on his face. I was mesmerized by his positive energy and could not take my attention away from him.
This is when I recognized the true POWER OF THE SMILE. I had just spent multiple thousands of dollars to take the longest flight of my life half way around the world to see the mystic sites of China, yet they were all flying past my window without me viewing them, because I was in the presence of an AMAZING SMILE! I was truly sad when traffic opened up and I had to return to my investment of site seeing. I know for a fact, that this young man made my day much better. By the way, this young man did not have the luxury of sitting in a climate controlled leasing center, in a nice chair, behind a nice desk - he was a refuse collector, in a non air conditioned truck on a 101 degree humidity filled day.
I am realizing while writing this blog that I am truly sick of miserable, negative, complaining people - and want to fire them from my life!
As I shop markets I am blown away with how many multi-family housing representatives I meet on the front line who bring me down. I am inspired to start writing help wanted ads for our industry, they would include things like: Personality Required, Must Be Able To Tell Jokes On Command, Responsible For Daily Laughter In Office and Tom Foolery A Must. Then I would recommend new ways to interview, such as put them in a room with a television running "I Love Lucy" & "Carol Burnett" episodes and observe them through closed circuit cameras to make sure they laugh in order to be eligible for hire. I would rework interview questions to include things like: What was your most embarrassing moment in life? What is the funniest thing you have ever witnessed? Who is your favorite comedian? When was the last time you laughed uncontrollably to the point of almost peeing your pants?
As a keynote speaker, one of my favorite experiences is dealing with the maintenance guy who was forced to come to my training session. He comes completely distracted thinking about the work orders stacked up at the property. He comes frustrated that he has to listen to this twit talk about customer service when he has life-threatening Freon leaking out of an A/C unit. He comes in miffed that he reports to the idiot who deems this session more important than his on-site duties. He is determined to have a bad time and get nothing from this session. Then I unveil the first comedic moment, he doesn't crack a smile, but I can't help noticing that Subway Sandwich stuffed belly jiggle from behind the table and under is crossed closed body language arms. Five minutes later I toss out the next comedic hot potato and this time he can't help but show some teeth. A few minutes later I pull the pin and toss a comedic hand grenade right at him, those arms fly open, and he catches it displaying full on public laughter. After this humiliating display of engagement, he forgets his commitment to learn nothing, leans forward, picks up a pen, and surrenders to writing notes regarding customer service. He vowed not to drink the Kool-Aide, but the kid like stains around his lips are going to be noticed back at the community when his commitment to customer service is adjusted for the positive.
When I see this happening in my classes, I want to point and yell out, "DUDE, you just drank the freaking Kool-Aide", but instead, I just serve up more for the hours remaining, I want him to leave drunk with new knowledge.
I think this young Chinese man pictured above drinks the Kool-Aide everyday. I picture him waving and saying high to every customer he sees as he collects their garbage. I see him being able to turn bad customer service experiences around by just flashing those pearly whites. I envision his co-worker waking every morning, eager to spend the day with his positive energy.
Oddly enough, because of him, I would consider being a refuse collector in China, if he were my teammate!!!
So what is the message of my blog? If you are negative by nature and don't have a personality - don't apply to be a part of my life! But if you are positive and love to laugh - apply today, YOUR HIRED!
