Sarah Warsi

Today I went for a routine eye examination after quite a while. I had been putting it off for some time and the pandemic, of course, hasn’t helped. The place I went to is super well-run with very warm and friendly team members. Anyways, during my visit, I made a point to let the optometrist know that I was very pleased with the experience, and she just beamed with appreciation – even more so because of an incident that had happened recently.

She shared a brief story about how a client had a misunderstanding over an appointment and how they did not hesitate to illustrate their frustration in person – to the point of being unkind and disrespectful to the staff. I felt badly hearing this story because mistakes happen and no one should unfairly be thrown under the bus like that.

When I gave her my candid, positive feedback, she looked at me warmly and told me how it meant a lot to her and that ‘it made her day’ – and at that point, it made mine too. 

Kindness always wins. 

We have all collectively been through the wringer and back with this pandemic, so understandably patience has worn thin, however, it is never an excuse to overreact and put someone else down. We are all human with feelings, trying to do our part for the greater good. We need to take a moment and pause before we react to a situation. You might feel ‘satisfied’ at the time, but the effect of your behavior towards the other person could have lasting, detrimental effects. It felt nice to have indirectly contributed to lifting someone’s spirits in the end. 

And that was my feel-good moment of the day.