WOW Word-Of-the-Week #303: Personal
May 17, 2010 by Susan Clarke
Personal – relating to or responsive to an individual.
Do you take the time to acknowledge people who are serving you? Do you call them by name if they are wearing a name tag? Do you like it when you are personally addressed by your guests, customers, members or clients?
Joe Moran is one of my WOW readers who gives me lots of (positive) feedback. After I received his response to last week’s WOW on disposition I thought it would be great to share it. Then I got the idea to let him pick the WOW and he chose personal as this week’s WOW.
Joe wrote, “My general disposition is upbeat and happy. Now, I am not happy, joyous and free every day. But for the most part I put on a happy face for the world. When there are times that I am not in a great mood, I will watch an episode of “Seinfeld” so that I can get a good laugh before I go to bed at night. That puts me in a good place.”
“You mentioned saying hello to someone during the day. When I go into the post office, there is a beautiful, shy woman at the counter named Crystal. The first time that she took care of my mail needs I said her name. She replied with an appreciative, generous smile, as if just by calling her name I made her day. When our family was leaving the Magic Kingdom recently at the end of one of our days there, I looked at the tag of the woman at the exit gate. I said, ‘Hi, Sharon. How are things in Childress, Texas?’ Her reply was, ‘I love it when people call me by my name.’
“That is a little thing, but it means so much in our everyday lives to simply be acknowledged. I don’t think most people being served in gas stations or restaurants bother to even look at the name tag of the person who is taking care of them. I don’t know if enough people realize how important it is to be recognized. It is basic to who we are. We don’t do it enough. Just the return of a smile, like Crystal’s, can make your day.”
In my service programs I talk about my “7 Simple Steps of Service” and using names is one of them. I always go out of my way to know a servers name. It’s just feels better to me and more respectful. This week focus on being more personal. Who do you need to acknowledge? When is the last time you read a nametag and repeated their name?
I love feedback! And if you have a WOW that you want to share, please do!
Reader Responses
“Thanks for the reminder. I usually do this one. I makes us all human.” – Sandra