Thanks For The Breakfast

What a beautiful morning

I arrived early the night before where the next day I would be photographing the individuals who would receive an award for meeting goals, being innovative leaders , and for achieving a milestone in their career.  Early to bed and early to rise was my theme for the day and at 6:45 am I was up and ready for my breakfast.

I was surprised when I had arrived the night before when I was given a coupon for a free breakfast and I was looking forward to this moment. The waitress came directly to my table and asked what I would like to drink. 

“I would like coffee please with creamer, and may I use this coupon for my meal?”  She told me the plates would be right out.  She was so nice to me from the moment I sat down and as I waited on the coffee, I admired the cleanliness of the restaurant and the chipperness of the morning crew.  In just a few minutes she was returning with my plates.  Two eggs, three strips of bacon, hashbrown potatoes, toast, jelly and orange slices.  Yum this looks great.  As I thanked her for the meal she asked, “is there anything else I can get you?”. My response was that I was fine and I thanked her for being so nice.  The meal was great and as I sat there and thought, I began to wonder just how many people had a hand in getting this breakfast to me.  First it took at least 5 people to work the chicken house that supplied the eggs, it took another 5 people working the orange trees that handpicked the fruit. It took another ten or twelve individuals to harvest the wheat, drive the truck, bake the bread and deliver it to the hotel, at least four individuals to get the bacon from the pig and to me and what about the coffee bean pickers and the factory workers who crushed the beans to make the coffee. Then the truck drivers and warehouse workers and the motel workers.

Did they communicate with each other as they made their incidental acquaintances.  How many hundreds of individuals does it take to put a breakfast on a plate in a hotel?  Do we take the time to say thank you to the last one in the line of labor who delivered the goods to us?

We live in such a time that very often a Thank You is left out of the conversation. Sure everyone got paid but it takes a lot of eggs and bacon to make a few dollars to make the house payments.  How much better of a life or a day will the other person have if I choose to make a difference in their day.  Thank you for the opportunity to eat in this nice restaurant and thank you for your smile, I want to tell you how much I appreciate your taking the time to refill my coffee and the atmosphere here was fantastic.  Don’t you like to be told you are doing a good job?  We need to recognize the laborers and the workers more than we do.  We should take the time to recognize that every one of those individuals have a life of their own and they each play an important role in making my morning great.

The breakfast was great, and as the waitress made her last trip I asked her if I could speak with her manager. She introduced me very nervously not knowing what I was going to say. I introduced myself using only my first name and informed the manager that I had just eaten one of the finest breakfast meals in my life and that the waitress was on time and very cheerful and had performed most excellent.  The manager smiled and thanked me back and then began to tell me about how they were going to renovate and the next time I came in it would be even better.  What kind of day do you think those people had when our conversation was over?

What kind of day do you have when you are shown a little appreciation?