Ha! For this very purpose I have a list hanging on the inside of the cabinet where I keep my coffee mugs. On that list I make notes of how people drink their coffee or tea. It is surprising how appreciative people are when I casually remark: you take herbal tea with honey, right? And your husband takes his coffee black, if I recall correctly? It feels like asking after their kids by name, but somehow this feels more genuine to me.
Lucky Strikes are cigarettes. Do you mean Isaac Asimov’s Lucky Starr books?
I once went to a local store looking for running shoes, and realized that I’d showed up at the end of a massive sale. The place looked like it’d been hit by a hurricane. To my surprise not only did they still have what I wanted, it was more than 50% off! I went up to the counter to buy them, and the cashier asked if I’d found everything okay. I responded with an enthusiastic “Yes!” His face lit up. Apparently people had been complaining all day that they were out of whatever-it-was that they just had to have (as tends to happen at the end of a sale) and he was really sick of dealing with rude entitled people. He gave me his employee discount just for being friendly and happy. I think he made my day as much as I made his!
In another post I talked about my first Duran Duran concert in Cleveland (went by myself on the bus from Toronto, ended up 3rd row). Well before I went I looked at the venue’s website and e-mailed them thanking them for such an informative website and asked about hotels and stuff in the area. I wrote back and forth with the events manager, her name was “Bree” and I signed my e-mails “Jenny from Canada.” After the concert I found Bree and said “I’m Jenny from Canada.” She was all, “YOU’RE Jenny from Canada! It’s so nice to finally meet you!!” Apparently all they ever get is complaints so she had printed my message and put it on their bulletin board. The coat check guy saw my “Canadian Girls Kick Ass” shirt and asked if I had e-mailed them, and when I said yes that was me he offered me a ride back to the hotel and ended up taking me on a tour of downtown Cleveland, telling me the history of the city and the Agora Theatre and said that if I ever wanted to see a show there again to call and they’d put me on the guest list. My simple e-mail unintentionally helped me have the greatest trip ever.
One of my classmates from highschool was a girl who lived a few blocks down the street. She was perfectly nice, smart, witty, and we’d chat occasionally - although we were never close. She was also overweight.
One day, 5 or 10 years after highschool, we met again. We exchanged pleasantries and then she told me how thankful she was for me in highschool. Apparently I was one of the few people who didn’t tease her - and instead treated her with respect.
I know the comment was intended to make me feel good - but I just came away incredibly saddened. It really gave me a glimpse at what her life must have been like, for her to remember the truly little things that I did with her.
When I was about six our backyard neighbors’ granddaughters would come stay every summer. One day their aunt was taking them somewhere and invited me along. At one point, one of the girls asked me how old I thought her aunt was.
She was a grown-up so she had to be old. I thought carefully and ventured the biggest age I could think of. “Twenty-eight?”
The aunt seemed thrilled for some reason I couldn’t understand.
Looking back, she was probably at least forty.
I overtipped the pizza delivery guy, and then I made his day.
I’ve told this one before. I had my pizza delivered, one night, by a short, slim man who recited a pizza delivery oath patterned on the Green Lantern oath. It was a little corny, maybe, but since I’m geeky, it was also way cool.
Since I was delighted, I overtipped a bit. When he thanked me, I said: “Hey. I got a pizza and the Green Lantern pizza oath.” He beamed. He said that was only the second time that anyone had recognized it and I had made his day.
We shook our heads over how sad it was for people who just didn’t know. This was years before the movie came out. Not that I think it did much to increase recognition of the oath.
Mine was very similar to this. I went to a small high school and most of the students had been attending together for many years. Senior year there was only one new student in, and I made it a point to talk with him on occasion as he was finding his footing. We didn’t become friends; a few weeks after school started he seemed to settle in and that was it.
Months later, after graduation, I read what he wrote in my yearbook and his moving words of thanks almost brought me to tears. What seemed to me simple courtesy had evidently made his entry into a new world bearable.
This could almost be in the “The Stories You Tell!” thread.
In 1993 or so I lived right in downtown San Francisco and was assistant managing a fairly large-scale movie theater. After a horrible exhausting day when everything went wrong and I was abused my any number of customers I decided to treat myself to a pizza. There was a Domino’s about two blocks away, and while they normally wouldn’t have been my first choice, I was starving and figured I’d get it faster if I ordered it from the closet place.
The pizza arrives and I tear into it. At the time it was the greatest pizza in the history of man. I was so overwhelmed by the god-like magnificence of this pizza I immediately sat down and wrote an over-the-top, hyperbole-filled, letter of praise thanking the pizza makers, the delivery boy, the store, and the entire Domino’s empire.
Several months later I’m interviewing applicants for a position and a guy about my age, maybe a little older, tells me he’s looking for something part time to supplement his existing job. When I ask what it is he tells me he’s the manager of the Domino’s I sent the letter to. I laughed and told him about the letter I wrote. His jaw hit the floor and said “I don’t believe it! Everyone was so overwhelmed by that letter that it’s in a frame on the wall!”
I got free pizza the entire time he worked there.