I was just a teenage wolf man (sorry, wrong story) sales clerk, working part-time after school at a jewelry store chain in one of our local malls. I must admit, it wasn’t that big a deal to me. After all, the manager only gave me the job because one of the company’s VPs lived across the street from us and asked him to take me on as a favor. (My first experience getting a job due to influence and not ability – a real confidence builder!)

Heck, I wasn’t even allowed to sell the “good” stuff (oooh – lookit all those pretty diamonds!); nope, I was assigned to the watch counter instead. Wow. How. Exciting. Oh, well, no matter – I wasn’t that good a salesman, anyway. (There could be a lot said here about my attitude, but let’s not go there, shall we?)

In any case, it was a way to earn a little spending money that didn’t involve working in the fast food industry (something I’d sworn off of by this time). It was just one of many inconsequential jobs I had when I was young. In fact, this job was so thoroughly forgettable that, except for one particular incident, I probably wouldn’t even remember it at all.

Yep, that was the day I felt like… a million bucks.

I hadn’t been working there long when one day the manager (sorry, ‘way too long ago – can’t remember his name anymore) called me over and asked me to figure out a way to fix one of the store’s window displays. For some reason, it had always been a problem, falling down at odd times or always looking crooked. It just wouldn’t work right, no matter what they tried.

Well, I put a little thought into it, then came up with a solution that solved the problem beautifully, if I do say so myself! (Come to think of it, I just did, didn’t I?)

Anyway, a few days later, I overheard the manager talking to what I assumed to be a customer, when after a few minutes, he called me over. As I approached, the manager introduced me to the man as one of the jewelry store’s owners! (You would know the name if I told you – so I won’t tell you!)

“I’d like you to meet Bob, our engineer,” he said with a smile. “He’s the fellow that fixed our display problem.” I shook the man’s hand and mumbled something unintelligible, I’m sure. “Aw shucks, ‘twern’t nothin’”, or something equally memorable.

Apparently, this particular display had been a sore spot with the owner for quite a while. Then I came along and solved it (and consequently make the manager look good, too – always a sound business principle). And, as it turned out literally everybody was pretty pleased.

I’ll tell you – at that moment, I felt like a million bucks!

Insert pause for thought here. (Sound of crickets.)

OK, two points.

First of all, never, never, NEVER (is that strong enough for you?) underestimate the power of a compliment! If you ever have the opportunity to give someone a positive word, a compliment, an encouragement; don’t think about it – just do it!

Not only will you have made their day, but you will probably just have made your own as well. (Gee, now I gotta wonder: Did this have anything to do with me eventually becoming a, you know, actual engineer? Hmmm…)

Second, you never know just how much of an impact you’re really making. Remember that.

Related post:

Change the World: A Word of Encouragement