I would like to suggest one of the simplest ways of doing so, that so many Upper Middle Class and the Truly beyond our day to day comprehension Super Rich either ignore or are all too concerned about "Face" and appearences that they pretty much Never engage in such things. I just did it again this morning talking to the very tired, sweaty young man who clears the mutual shared porch and stairs, handicapped ramp for the three offices in our little building. And what was that simply act of kindness you might ask??? Positive Recognition and a simple but ver sincerely phrased, sounding "Thank You".
The guy who had our contract last thru our landlord here, they plowed once in the early morning as properly needed and again as needed all be it harder with three businesses worth of customers coming and going, in the lot, little or no ability to do the nice long orderly pushes. But the young man who would come and do the hand shoveling of the porch and other parts Came at the very end of the business day. Like how useless is that? By then we would have at least done the stairs and small area that was directly in front of our doors for our folks including elderly folks, disabled folks, and parents with young kids too.
So now at just about 9:30 am this young guy was finishing up all sweaty and well done, goodness knows how many other similar places he has been to already and has left to go on this 12 inch deposited over night morning and driving around in it too to get to us and others. So I said thanks so much for coming early in the day so it will be clear for our folks coming and going during the day. And I explained to him our frustration with the previous guys who had the contract and the young man who did his gig last. He was truly understanding and you could see he felt good to be recognized and appreciated for the hard, sweaty job he does, one of those similar almost "invisable" jobs for the most part. I know what that is like and feels like too. You see I was a mover, a stagehand and lots of other sweaty, by the strength of my back manual worker and tech most of the first half of my working life. Not until we opened Nancy's practice did I become a more "office and desk" cognitive worker as I am today.
I regularly say "Thanks" and "Thank You" to the waiters and waitresses no matter what the place, big or small, Swanky or greasy spoon, gas pump jockies and all the rest as long as I'm not lost in my own spaced out mind or particularly cranky. Heck when cranky most of the time I half catch myself and appologize authentically too.
Simply recognizing those that work hard and take good care of you, provide good hard labor with their feet, backs, sweat off their brow, it means the world to them when said with authentic kindness or recognition of a job appreciated and well done.
Lastly, as a on foot pizza delivery guy at 18 and as a mover I finally really learned pretty early in life the meaning and the value of a well intended and thought out "Tip". If you know that the folks who work for you are underpaid and underappreciated perhaps even by their own bosses and could use a bit more in the end of the week envelope; again done with normal respect and kindness, appreciation, prehaps even an approrpiate to what they do or did for you TIP, makes a huge difference in a manual laborers day and financial life too. As a mover with some of the better more recognized local and regional companies our tips were fairly nice for the time period and cost of living. In the hot weather of NYC in the spring and summer one can consume a lot of food and cold drink all too easily. And you need to feed that body that is working so hard for you to earn you wages. Well, I was able to live day to day, even on fairly expensive NYC sandwiches and cold bottled drinks and subway fare, perhaps even bank a modest amount of it just on the Tips which then allowed me to actual have a full post tax paycheck to put in the back and or pay my real life bills, rent and the like that we all work for a living to cover in the first place.
That's my two cents for what it is worth as a guy who worked hard at such jobs for a good part of my life. Take it for what it is worth.
Happy & Healthy New Year,
Paul
