Does life ever sneak up on you and teach you a lesson? You, too? Glad to know I’m not alone.

Saturday, I had to work at Sparkspace. We don’t do a lot of Saturday meetings because we are primarily a business meeting space and most businesses don’t make their staff go to meetings on the weekend. It’s probably why we have very few revolts in this country.

“Good morning!  Welcome to our USA Today route.  Now, if I should go completely brain dead and miss you, please don’t hesitate to call me at the number below.  I will personally re-deliver your paper as soon as possible.  If you have a complaint that you and I can’t solve, you may call my district manager directly.  His name and number are also below.  Thanks a lot.  We really appreciate your business.”

My husband teaches an evening class at a local college. On Friday night, he took me to his school’s holiday dinner party, where we sat at a table with the president and her husband, a couple of distinguished teachers, and the school’s librarian. During the meal, one of the professors praised the librarian, “I have been teaching for thirty years and she is by far the very best librarian I have ever met.”

Great concierges are intensely loyal to a customer.  Read that line again and pay attention to the singular object of the phrase “loyal to.”   They do not think of the target of their service efforts in the plural . . . they think only in the singular.  They are service choreographers—managing an amalgamation of diverse elements, big and small.  A waitress might be friendly, but if she can’t get orders right, her weaknesses overshadow her strengths. The call center phone rep might be knowledgeable and efficient, but if he has little patience for customer problems, his cognitive gifts are lost amid the interpersonal flaws.

I am smarter than I was yesterday, I have better ideas than I had yesterday, and I am more valuable to my company than I was yesterday.

Did my brain grow overnight? Was I the subject of a new government “smart drug” study? Did aliens kidnap me and inject me with massive amounts of knowledge using their telepathic powers?

Nope. I read a book last night.

A while ago I wrote about a book called: “Choosing Civility”. One thing I like about the book is that it puts the responsibility for change on us, not on others, Even the title says it well. It reminds us we have the ability to choose how we act.

Want to know the secret to having a fantastic Monday? Choosing to have one.

I searched the Internet for an image depicts a happy Monday. I found maybe three images and those looked like greeting cards my grandma would have sent me.

Know how many images there are that show how bad Monday sucks? Thousands. No kidding.

Most of us acknowledge that when we’re performing our jobs, we are working.

But what many employees don’t often consider is that their jobs are made up of both mandatory actions that fulfill job functions (i.e., the bullet points on a job description) as well as optional behaviors that fulfill job essence—their highest priority (which, for most service-based businesses, is creating delighted customers).

In this marketplace, you can not afford to have a poor attitude showing to your customers. What are your employees saying when you are not listening?

Have you ever noticed that people tend to mirror each other’s behaviors?   When a customer behaves in unpleasant ways, it’s not always easy to maintain a positive demeanor. If you get emotionally hooked, the conflict plays out much like a dance.

He snips at you. You snap back. He yells, “Yes, you can,  and you bark,   No, we can’t.   The more charged you feel, the less control you have over the situation and the next round of the dance escalates.

I had just returned from a trip to San Francisco and had the good fortune of staying at the Ritz Carlton. I arrived at noon and was greeted by a doorman (employee #1). He welcomes me to the Ritz, assists with my luggage and asks my name. The next employee (#2) then opens the door and uses my name as he welcomes me. This employee was within earshot of #1 so using my name was an easy feat. Here’s where it gets interesting – I enter the hotel and am greeted with, “Welcome Ms. Ford”. This employee (#3) had been seated at a desk, rose quickly and offered me a bottle of water as she walks me to the front desk. Now she could not have heard the name exchange that happened outside the hotel. When arriving at the front desk I hear, “We are glad to have you at the Ritz, Ms. Ford. How was your trip?”

These are two of the most powerful words in the English language — they are equally powerful in any language. They express our gratefulness for the benefits we have received, either in personal or business relationships.

I have had the privilege to work with an organization called PRO-TAX, from Charlottesville, VA. They have consistently demonstrated their values and commitment to delivering an exceptional customer experience. And they are working every day to improve and make it better.