Good people equals good business.

I flew back from a Team Building show in Miami last week. It was great. Lot’s of fun. Florida’s great.

My flight included a layover in Atlanta. In the few minutes that we had to spare, Marybeth, (my acting partner), and I chose a place to eat in the airport.

Nathan’s famous hot dogs. A famous chain. Great food. Great reputation.

Although the place was very busy, there, behind the counter were approximately 5, (or 6), very “listless” employees. They were not friendly. They were not mean, they were just "there". I could go down the list of issues that I had with the staff there, but that would waste everyone’s time. But you know what I’m talking about. They don’t care. If you ask for “mayonnaise”, they give you a disgusted look. If your drink was not right, they hold the replacement drink close to their body so that you have to extend out to get it. Marybeth and I laughed about them for 5 minutes or so. I’m sure the fine folks at Nathan’s would not be happy with that crew. But I loved my Philly cheese steak. It was the best.

We got on our plane and took off. Our flight arrived at St. Louis at 10:30ish, (that’s pm), and by the time we got our luggage, it was 11:00ish. We wheeled our luggage out to the Car Park shuttles.

When we approached the shuttle for our particular parking garage….the driver, (an older man), stepped out, smiled and nicely said, “Welcome home”.

Frankly, I was caught off guard. The only comeback I could think of was “thanks”.

He helped with our luggage.

We sat down in the back of the shuttle.

It quickly filled. By radio, “Mr. Larry” was told to wait 90 seconds before departure. No new riders were coming so he turned around and said, “I know you all have been out of town so you probably didn’t hear about the big accident here in St. Louis last night.”

Concerned, we all said, “No! What happened?”

Mr. Larry said, “A man had a wreck and lost his left arm and his left leg.”

We all said, “Oh. That’s terrible!”

Mr. Larry said, “Yeah, but he’s all “RIGHT” now.”

Everyone laughed just a little.

So, at 11:00 at night, with a shuttle bus full of very tired passengers, Mr. Larry quickly drove us
to our cars and told us jokes. Silly jokes. Children’s jokes.

Marybeth and I ended up being the last on the shuttle. As soon as we were alone with Mr. Larry I said, “How long have you been doing this?”

“Five years.”

“Do you get more tips than the other drivers?”

“I don’t know, but I’m happy with the tips I get.”

Do the other drivers know your secret to more tips?”

“I don’t know if they do or not.”

”Well. Maybe they do, maybe they don’t, but you and I know, don’t we.”

“Yep.”

Mr. Larry stopped at our car, helped us unload, gratefully accepted a tip, waved and drove away into the night.

I like people who do their job well. I really do.