She got behind me in line at the pharmacy of a VERY LARGE retail store that has everything you need under the sun from groceries to clothes to prescriptions.
In her cart were a few groceries along with a little boy hanging off the front of the cart, a little girl in the cart with the groceries and another little girl in the seat area near the push handle of the cart.
The pharmacy wouldn’t open for ten more minutes and I wondered how her kids would behave over the course of those ten minutes. The little girl in the seat area obviously wasn’t feeling well and was very quiet so I didn’t expect much from her. I’m sure she was the reason they were in line at the pharmacy.
Shortly after pulling up behind me mom leaned down to all three kids and with a very loving voice said, “Okay, guys. We have to wait a few minutes until it opens and we can get Amanda’s medicine. I really need your help in being patient. I know it’s hard to wait. It’s even hard for mommies to wait.”
It wasn’t long and the little girl in with the groceries crawled out of the cart. She walked over to the lip balm area and asked her mom, “Can I get some lipstick today, mom?”
“Not today. We have some at home,” mom responded in her continued loving tone.
Then the little boy said, “Mom, I want to go see the fish.” Again, mom responded in her adoring voice, “We’ll go see the fish after we get the medicine.”
Neither of the kids whined or even asked a second time. They accepted what mom had said. The last thing I heard mom say before the pharmacy opened told me a lot about this mom.
“You guys are being so good and so patient. I am so proud of you guys!”
After observing this mom for ten to twelve minutes I’m pretty sure the behavior of these kids wasn’t an anomaly. She was a good mom who was raising good kids.
I blew it.
In their book, “How Full is Your Bucket” Tom Rath and Donald Clifton state, “65% of Americans received no recognition in the workplace last year.”
Standing in line at the pharmacy for a mom with three kids is her workplace. I thought about telling her what a great job she was doing as a mom. It would have taken a little bit of courage to do that. It would have taken ten seconds out of my day. Unfortunately, I didn’t tell her anything and I’m greatly disappointed with myself. Maybe it wouldn’t have meant a thing but we all love to hear when we’re doing a good job so I’m pretty sure it would have at least brightened her day if even just for a moment.
Do you have more courage than I did to let the people you work with know they are doing a good job? Do you think that since they are paid to do a good job they don’t need to hear it, that the pay should be their reward? That was the belief of multiple managers I have coached through the years. Well, you’re wrong. Check out this article to find out just how important recognition is to employees.
Do you have the courage to recognize someone in your life today?
Have a STRONG and COURAGEOUS day!
This is an updated post that originally ran on Sept. 8, 2014.
