My long time friend Anthony Braswell shared the following Fred-sighting with me:
One of my all-time favorite restaurants to visit each week is our local Jason’s Deli. It’s convenient, but that’s not why I go.
It’s really good, but that’s not the only reason why I go. They also have free ice cream!
And I go because of the Fred Factor!
I wish I could introduce you to my friend, House Mouse. That’s what her Jason’s Deli employee nametag says. She is the reason I keep going back! She might not be the “typical” customer service employee. She’s got tattoos. You don’t have to wonder what her favorite sports team is because she has Tarheels tattooed on her arm! God help you if you are wearing a Duke shirt! But she does possess the spirit of Fred. She does an ordinary job in an extraordinary way!
She greets every person with a handshake and if you are a frequent guest like I am. Sometimes she even gives you a hug! She remembers my name, what I want and if I try to order something that isn’t their specialty, she playfully refuses to let me order it. “The best for my friends!” she says! I often bring friends with me and she’ll tell them, “Wow! You keep great company! This is a great guy that you are hanging out with today!” She understands how to make people feel special and create value for every customer.
I took time recently to share how awesome House Mouse is with her boss. I let him know that she was the reason that I ate there so often and used their restaurant as a place for meetings. The manager let me know after that meeting that she was getting a raise.
Her words to me were, “Thanks so for making that happen!”
My response to her was, “I just reminded your boss of what he already knew!”
Thanks, Anthony, for sharing your Fred sighting.
Showing posts with label Fred Factor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fred Factor. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Friday, December 2, 2011
Another Fred’s Optimism
Since writing The Fred Factor about an extraordinary postal carrier named Fred Shea, I’ve encountered and learned about many other “Freds” who embrace the same spirit of service. I came across one such Fred while researching my latest book, Up, Down, or Sideways. It so happens, this one is literally, as well as figuratively, a Fred.
Fred Johnson had lived in New Orleans for nearly six decades, and he wasn’t the type to sit around and do nothing when people throughout his city were suffering. So in 2005, after Hurricane Katrina overwhelmed the levee system that protected much of New Orleans from the Gulf of Mexico’s waters, Johnson made his way to the Superdome, where thousands of people had gathered in search of shelter from the storm.
The Superdome lacked the security, clean water, food, and bedding needed for a crisis of this magnitude. Nearly all the people there had lost their homes. Chaos, confusion, and uncertainty filled the air as the multitudes struggled to find information about where to go and how to get there, not to mention anxiety about who among their friends and family had survived and who had not.
The suffering overwhelmed Johnson. In fact, he later told Scientific American magazine that he “lost it” for a brief period when he first arrived on the scene. Then, he said, his “governor” kicked in.
“When I become overwhelmed,” he said, “I think my process is this: I’m going to cry about it, I’m going to dry my eyes, and then I’m going back to work, but I’m not going to keep crying, crying, crying. I think that’s my governor. That’s how I keep my sanity.”
Johnson, you see, is an optimist. That doesn’t mean he saw happy opportunity and niceness in the midst of one of America’s worst natural disasters. It means he had the ability to quickly re-orient his view of the situation so that he could help himself and help others.
Real optimism like Johnson’s isn’t blind faith; it is far-sighted faith. Rather than deny the problems of the present, it focuses on the solutions for the future. It doesn’t look at the world through rose-tinted glasses; it uses trifocals — accepting the good, the bad, and the in-between, but choosing to focus on the good.
The negative person focuses only on the downside. The realist sees the downsides and the upsides but is uncertain about where to focus. The intelligent optimist doesn’t ignore the downside or reality, but simply focuses on the upside and expects the best.
This blog is based on content in my latest book, Up, Down, Or Sideways. It is available wherever you buy great books. Click here to learn more about the book or click here to order it from Amazon.com. Visit http://www.marksanborn.com for more resources.
Fred Johnson had lived in New Orleans for nearly six decades, and he wasn’t the type to sit around and do nothing when people throughout his city were suffering. So in 2005, after Hurricane Katrina overwhelmed the levee system that protected much of New Orleans from the Gulf of Mexico’s waters, Johnson made his way to the Superdome, where thousands of people had gathered in search of shelter from the storm.
The Superdome lacked the security, clean water, food, and bedding needed for a crisis of this magnitude. Nearly all the people there had lost their homes. Chaos, confusion, and uncertainty filled the air as the multitudes struggled to find information about where to go and how to get there, not to mention anxiety about who among their friends and family had survived and who had not.
The suffering overwhelmed Johnson. In fact, he later told Scientific American magazine that he “lost it” for a brief period when he first arrived on the scene. Then, he said, his “governor” kicked in.
“When I become overwhelmed,” he said, “I think my process is this: I’m going to cry about it, I’m going to dry my eyes, and then I’m going back to work, but I’m not going to keep crying, crying, crying. I think that’s my governor. That’s how I keep my sanity.”
Johnson, you see, is an optimist. That doesn’t mean he saw happy opportunity and niceness in the midst of one of America’s worst natural disasters. It means he had the ability to quickly re-orient his view of the situation so that he could help himself and help others.
Real optimism like Johnson’s isn’t blind faith; it is far-sighted faith. Rather than deny the problems of the present, it focuses on the solutions for the future. It doesn’t look at the world through rose-tinted glasses; it uses trifocals — accepting the good, the bad, and the in-between, but choosing to focus on the good.
The negative person focuses only on the downside. The realist sees the downsides and the upsides but is uncertain about where to focus. The intelligent optimist doesn’t ignore the downside or reality, but simply focuses on the upside and expects the best.
This blog is based on content in my latest book, Up, Down, Or Sideways. It is available wherever you buy great books. Click here to learn more about the book or click here to order it from Amazon.com. Visit http://www.marksanborn.com for more resources.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)