How Does Kindness Inform Your Choices?

It had been a rough day and I can’t even remember why. 

I had gone into a coffee shop for a hot mocha and the barista made the mocha and then I realized that I didn’t have my wallet and I burst into tears like a ridiculous person.  The barista just gave me the mocha.  It wasn’t that big a deal to her but it was to me.  I will be their best customer when I’m in that neighborhood.

Kindness is powerful.

I would like my doctor, my dentist, my lawyer, my accountant, and my local brewer to be kind people.  Yes, I want them to be good at what they do professionally, but if the best dentist on the planet is a total jerk, I don’t want to give her business.

HH and I love the last two restaurants where we ate.  They are almost side by side but there’s a Starbucks in between them.  I was in the Starbucks over the weekend and I asked that barista (also making me a mocha) if he had eaten at the restaurants.  He hasn’t eat at either place yet, but he reported that the chef at New Restaurant A is mean.  He yells at the barista staff like a disturbed person. The owner of New Restaurant B is lovely, though.  He treats the baristas kindly and he’s a good neighbor.

So, does this impact whether or not I return ever again to New Restaurant A?  Probably.

How much does kindness inform your choices?  Are you more likely to do business with kind people?  Do you pay it forward?

On this special day in our nation, being kind to people seems like the very least we can do.  Being fair is the next step.

Image of Mike who hangs out in Harvard Square in Cambridge, MA.