A can of Diet Coke, please?

So since I no longer have internet at home, I’ve become a bit of a con­nois­seur of free wi-fi zones, alter­nately known as “a vagabond with an expen­sive laptop”. I usu­ally tend to alter­nate between the library, a few coffee shops, and the train sta­tion, and I have spe­cific guide­lines about what makes for a good place: it should be rel­a­tively quiet & empty, it should have lots of power out­lets that people don’t mind me plug­ging into, and the people shouldn’t get cross with me when I’m there for eight hours and only buy a coffee. (Though admit­tedly, I try to buy a coffee at least every three or four hours, as I’m sure it counts as a utility expense.)

The Keshen Goodman library is one of my favourites, but wow, have libraries ever changed since I was a kid. Of course the card cat­a­logues are long gone, but now the library is full of loud, obnox­ious high school stu­dents play-fighting and gig­gling away in the study car­rels. What­ever hap­pened to libraries being akin to a place of wor­ship, where you’d be shushed for speaking above a whisper?

At any rate, I was amazed to dis­cover that not only is it totally kosher to eat in the library, but they also have a little café in the corner, which is actu­ally rather lovely if you’re making a twelve-hour-day of it. Every day it’s the same girl working there, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her crack a smile, not once. I usu­ally try to be exces­sively polite and friendly to people working ser­vice jobs (God knows I’ve had my share!), but she never once cracked. Today, though, as I went for my usual can of Diet Coke, there was a new girl working. It took her about five min­utes and some out­side help to figure out what I wanted, and then another minute or so to ring it in, but she smiled and seemed human!

As I trotted off with my caf­feinated bev­erage, I thought to myself, “Well, the other one was more com­pe­tent, but I like this one so much more.” (I sus­pect that when I was working ser­vice jobs myself, I was the efficient-but-snarly server.)

Clearly, this is a lesson I ought to take to heart, and start applying to my own life and business.

Tags: business, client relations, design, diatribes, life