Beech Tree News Network

I learned in a play-writing class once that the most boring thing you can see on stage are two people saying wonderful things about one another.  I just want you to be fore-warned that this column may bore you, because I plan on telling you some good things about some good people I came in to contact with this week.
    Have you ever had one of those days at work when you were overwhelmed because everybody showed up at once, and there were new customers with new information that had to be entered into the computer, and the phone wouldn’t stop ringing, and it wouldn’t stop raining, and there were people who needed things right now, and your best wasn’t good enough?  I had one of those days last week, but with a twist.
 In the middle of the chaos and craziness, there were three people who waited patiently for my help then thanked me politely when my help was given.  Those are the sort who make the biggest impression on me. Those are the kind who stand out in a crowd.  Those are the ones who turn my attention away from the drama queens who are demanding their fifteen minutes.  Maybe, it is the writer in me.  I learned long ago, if you want to draw attention to something, understate it.  I am going to use their real names here, because I want them to get the recognition they deserve for the kindness they showed me during a very difficult day.
We have several fleet accounts at New Image.  They aren’t always the easiest things to set up in a computer because of the information that is necessary to identify each client in order to guarantee we will get paid by the fleet service.  Some of them have to be faxed, some phoned in and others entered into forms online.  I’m not the most computer literate person, so I struggle a lot with this part of my job.
Eddie Daugherty, who works for TVA and is based in the Bowling Green office, decided to use our oil change facility, because he thought it might save him some time.  In the past, he has used dealerships in Bowling Green, but they service so many clients, that it sometimes took him over an hour to get a simple oil change.  Someone recommended us, so he showed up on that afore-mentioned crazy chaotic day.
I knew how to set up his account, I’ve done accounts like his dozens of times, but for some reason that day, I couldn’t get the information I typed in to attach to his fleet ID.  I worked on it for several minutes as Eddie waited patiently.  He even made suggestions that might help, but my computer has multiple personalities, and it was having none of it.  I felt so bad, because he had come to us to save himself time, and here I was costing him more time.  Finally, he suggested that maybe he could go on to Paradise then come back through to sign the ticket.  He gave me his card with his contact information, and as he handed it across the counter, the ID came up on the screen as if nothing had been hindering it.  I printed it, he signed it, and he thanked me, all while being kind and considerate.
The next person who impressed me that day was Holly Coleman.  Holly brought three vehicles to be serviced from her dad’s (Mike Coleman) auto and leasing companies.  She made sure I knew which vehicles went with which companies (sales or leasing) but I confused one of the cars and had it attached to the wrong ID, which I use for billing purposes.  It was during that same crazy chaotic time frame that she waited patiently as I fixed it.  Holly is a young person and I’m sure she had places to be and things to do, but she didn’t pace back and forth or fidget with her keys or even once sigh loudly as I struggled along.  When I finally got the accounts straightened out, she smiled and thanked me.
Gene Butters walked into my office that day as I first realized the mistake I had made on the Coleman account.  I was standing at the counter with Holly, trying to figure out what I had done.  There were two cars in the oil bays and three lined up outside.
“Can I help you?” I asked.
 “I need windshield wipers,” he said, “I realize how busy you are, and I can wait till you get a chance to put them on.  My truck is parked right there.” He motioned outside the door to the office.
Let me tell you something about me.  I will move heaven and earth for someone who walks into our business with an attitude like that.
There were two other guys working on the car on bay one, so I pulled Garey aside.  “Gene needs windshield wipers, his truck is parked right outside the door, and he was nice to me,” I said.  Garey knows the words “and he was nice to me” are code for this person deserves preferential treatment.  Garey put the wipers on, and Gene paid for them, while complementing the service he had received and thanking us for getting to him.
    Those are the three people who stood out on that very busy and frustrating day, when patience was the loudest voice in the room.