The Cost of a Compliment
I went by the drive-thru of an undisclosed fast food restaurant (my dirty little secret) before heading home for lunch today. I placed my order and the voice on the other end was friendly and courteous. This was a little shocking only because I’ve consumed quite a few calories over time at this place and the voices on the other end are usually a little impatient, unclear, and slightly rude.
I pulled around to pay and came face to face to a woman with a big smile. She seemed genuinely happy about her work and was easily the friendliest drive-thru employee I’ve ever encountered. She even got the entire order perfect!
Look, I get it. Fast food employees take home a dismal paycheck, work in greasy conditions, deal with rude customers, and have every right to be cranky. Right?
This employee didn’t seem to think so. She may not have been fulfilling her passion, but she was most certainly earning her money with a winning attitude.
I went home and told my wife about this diamond in the rough. It occurred to me that I should call the manager of this establishment and pay the employee a compliment. So that’s exactly what I did. After all, how often do people call to give a compliment? I bet fast food managers get several customer complaints a day. I mean just check out complaintsboard.com and see how many people are griping about their fast food experiences. Or better yet, listen to this hilarious 911 call from a woman who got fed up with bad fast food service. Do NOT mess with this woman’s BBQ burger!
When the manager came on the line I said something along the lines of, “I figured people only call you to complain, but I’m calling to pay a compliment.” He seemed a little taken aback. I went on to describe my experience and how appreciative I was of her attitude and work ethic.
Awkward silence…
After a couple of beats the manager responded, “Wow. Okay, well, thank you sir. You’re right, we don’t get these kinds of calls and I’ll be sure to let her know. “
What did I get out of it? I took home a great experience and a meal lacking any frustration or disappointment. What more could I want?
The real question is what might the drive-thru employee get out of it? Perhaps a pay raise or some sort of special recognition. I’m sure she earned a few brownie points with her manager, and she deserves at least that much.
The fact is that paying a compliment doesn’t actually cost you anything. We’re always quick to complain when something doesn’t go our way, but how often do hand out a compliment when something does goes our way or even surpasses our expectation?
Do you have any personal examples of this sort of thing? Let’s hear them!
Photo source: strangelv
I've run into this sort of thing a few times but never take the time to compliment the person or their manager, though I do think about it. I don't generally complain either, so maybe it balances itself out. But I will try to make a point to do that more in the future. When I worked at Apple I would get compliments pretty frequently and it was always nice to know you made a difference for someone by providing good advice and service.
Awesome. I think when we look at it from the perspective of how it effects us we can understand how another person is feeling. Complaining never makes me feel good anyway. If I have to make a complaint, I try to be fair and constructive about it. That's the new me though. The old me was a total jerk wad and would complain to be a dick. Gotta love that type.
Last week, I was at the UPS store. The man at the counter was inundated with people and was working like a mad man to get us all taken care of. One woman decided to be nasty and make snide comments to him about how he should be helping only her. I would have punched her in the face. But he said he was sorry, and silently kep working like a mad man.
I was so impressed and felt so bad that he had to take that guff from that lady. None of the rest of us said anything at the time but I wanted to tell him “good job”. So I emailed his place of business. The next day the manager called me to tell me thank you for the comment. I told him the story again, and he said he was having the email framed and was going to present it to the young man with all of his employees present. He was also going to give a copy to the young man's dad who he must have been acquaintances with. I'm sure that dad will be very proud. It felt good to say “good job.”
[...] blog post from my friend, Will Sloan, inspired me to tell you about an incident that happened to me recently. I was in the local UPS [...]
I did this today after some great service at The Olive Garden. The waitress wasn't overly bubbly or friendly, but I actually appreciate that in a waitress as I really don't want to be her friend, I just want my food. She took our orders by memory, brought the bread and salad super quick, kept our water glasses filled without asking, and any time we asked for anything she brought it out immediately even though she had three other tables. I left a $10 tip and asked to see the manager. The manager came out looking like she was expecting some drama, but was quickly pleasantly surprised as I said I just wanted to compliment the waitress. On the way out I saw that the manager had already gone over to the waitress and told her what I said. The manager seemed genuinely surprised that I called her out from the back to actually compliment the service, so it was nice for everyone.
Ha! Crazy. I had to blink twice to see if I was seeing an old comment or not.
That's awesome dude. I love doing this when it's worth doing. I think it's good for everyone all around. I bet you made her night. Hell, you probably made the manager's night as well. I bet she rolled her eyes before trudging out to your table to find out what the fuss was. Pleasant surprise for sure. I really believe that if we acknowledged the good as often as we do the bad we'd have a much better world.