Date: May 27th, 2010
Despite the difficulties I experienced with my job earlier in the week, I found myself slowly gaining back some excitement about it. This was, in part, because I had started working on some of the paperwork for the client I spoke to earlier in the week and, in part, because there is just so much to learn that its hard not to be excited. After a morning working the intake hotline, I was about to depart for lunch when one of my bosses approached me with a small stack of papers.
Turns out, one of the rotating jobs that I did not realize I had was to be the day's "court runner". Seeing as I had no idea what it even was (minus the one sentence description in our orientation packet), it was a fair bet I'd never done it before. Being court runner is like being a glorified errand girl. Ok. Its just like being an errand girl. I had to drive down to the county court house and police station to pick up a copy of a recent judgment and a police report that one of my bosses had put out a FOIA request on.
I did had one learning moment in the course of that new experience though. As I walked in the door to the police station, I saw an older gentleman in uniform sitting by the metal detector. His job was pretty straightforward. He just had to make sure that no one brought anything illegal into the station or courthouse. I watched him put his book down on the counter, stand up slowly and walk over to the door I'd come in and it struck me that his job must be alternately boring or relaxing given the day.
It also struck me that people were probably rarely nice to him. What I mean to say is that most people going to a police station or a district court on any given day are probably (validly) not in a great mood. Surely some of his coworkers probably smiled and asked about his day, but the vast majority of people there were there under a lot of stress.
I thought about these things while I waited in line to get the second set of paperwork I'd been sent for. As I walked to the elevator on my way out of the building, I made a decision to be as pleasant as I could possibly be to the gentleman on the way out of the building. Maybe seeing one smiling face would make the afternoon go by quicker. So, as I walked by, I smiled as broadly as I could and wished him a nice afternoon. The look I got in response was nothing short of joyful.
In that moment I realized how important it is to stay cheerful whenever possible. Happiness is infectious. It spreads to everyone you come in contact with. As I left the courthouse that afternoon I made a decision to always be as upbeat as I could (without becoming that annoying little perky chipmunk everybody loves to hate) in hopes of brightening everyone's day just a little. Because why not, really?
Amen. As Belushi said "it don't cost nothing..."
ReplyDelete