As the window film installer surveyed his work and prepared to leave our offices, I said, “Anthony, thanks for doing such a great job. It’s been a pleasure having you in our offices today.”
He paused in the doorway to my office. “Thank you,” he said. “It’s been nice to work here today. I felt like I got a real warm welcome. It isn’t always like that. Some places are really tense.”
“We work hard here,” I said, “but we also value each other. And we’re intentional about maintaining an environment where it’s clear that we value each other.”
Anthony gathered the last of his tools. “It’s obvious,” he said. “I could really feel a good vibe here.”
“Do you like your work? I bet you go to a lot of different places.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Sometimes the people aren’t so nice.”
I wracked my brain to think of some particular niceness I’d shown to Anthony through the day as he labored in our offices. I’d introduced myself when he arrived, offered him a glass of water–gestures so tiny I had to search my memory to recall them.
I’m the point person in our company for vendors. It’s a responsibility I take seriously: I check references. I follow up on the quality of the work done. I compare prices. I review invoices before I pay them. I have a duty to be a good steward of the company’s resources.
I also have a duty to the people who come to our offices to provide us with services or goods that we need. So I try to treat the workers who arrive at our offices with the same compassion and courtesy that I show to my friends.
I think of them as “workguests”–similar to houseguests, but at the office. Or maybe tourists. Either way, they’re strangers in my care for the time they’re working.
I left for the day with an extra spring in my step. Anthony’s appreciation of my appreciation lifted me. While driving home I said a silent prayer for the Anthonys of our world–and for the people who sometimes aren’t so nice to them.
33 ‘When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.
34 ‘The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 19:33-34 (NASB)
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