The Kindness Question

When out among people, certain questions tend to pop into my mind (e.g. "Did I remember to brush my teeth today?", "Will anyone notice my mismatched socks?", etc.). Since starting this Blog, I've tried to supplement those ... clearly important ... questions with THE KINDNESS QUESTION: "What act of kindness can I do right now in my present situation?" I try to make it almost like a game.

This post is just a collection of little (sometimes very little) acts that THE KINDNESS QUESTION has prompted me to do.

The Waiting Room

While sitting in a waiting room at a medical facility I was joined by a young pregnant woman. I decided to put THE KINDNESS QUESTION to work.

My first act was to offer her the footrest that was in front of my own chair (which I had been enjoying). She accepted it and clearly enjoyed the relief it brought.

Realizing that the wait would be extended, I decided to go get a cup of coffee. I offered to get something for the expectant mother. She smiled and specified a type of tea … which I gladly got for her along with my coffee.

My final chivalrous act was to share homemade chocolate chip cookies that my daughter had brought … (yes, my daughter brings cookies to medical facilities, doesn’t everyone?) … with everyone in the room.

The Restaurant

Through years of business travel and my own families work experiences I’ve come to realize that restaurant servers don’t always get the appreciation they deserve. It’s not an easy job and some customers can be downright rude. So whenever I’m at a restaurant, I put THE KINDNESS QUESTION to work.

Step one; I greet the server with a friendly hello and ask how they are doing. It’s extra fun when I’m able to greet them a split second before they attempt to greet me. Catching them off guard always puts a smile on their face. If I’ve recently heard an appropriate joke (nothing political, religious, racial or sexual) and they seem receptive I’ll tell them the joke. Results have been positive so far.

Step two; I clean up at my table when I’m done. As a coffee drinker, I neatly stack all the used creamer containers together. This helps prevent leftover creamer spillage when the server clears the table. This act of kind tidiness ... AKA kindiness ... has received high praise from several servers.

Step three; I make sure to sincerely compliment the server on their efforts. At a recent large group restaurant gathering, our server wasn’t the one who took payment, so I walked over to her, addressed her by name and told her she did a great job (which she did).

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Clearly none of these acts warrant any Nobel prizes, but most of them (I’ve always enjoyed stacking creamers) would not have been done without THE KINDNESS QUESTION. And I can assure you that in the past, sharing any homemade chocolate chip cookies was only done under protest.