I was watching my Twitter stream the other day when one tweet went up that caught my attention. A chap had bought coffee for him and his colleague on the way into work, only to find his colleague was not in. As he now had a coffee to spare, he gave it to the Security man in his building and to quote “Bless the old dude never seen someone so happy!”, the security man said “i’m going to cherish this!”. Isn’t it amazing how much joy one cup of coffee, which might have otherwise have been left to go cold on a desk or may have just been poured down the sink can bring. To that security guard it was an amazing gift, he probably sits at his post for hours a day being largely ignored; the busy people in the building rushing past him without a thought, so tied up in their day to day, rushing to their next meeting.

It made me think. I, and the other couple of thousand of people who work in the building where I am, probably are just like that. Walk in past the reception desk generally without even acknowledging the presence of the ladies on reception; not so much as a nod or a smile. Sad really isn’t it. We have a Costa kiosk in “The Street”, a part of the building designed to look like a continental ‘cafe’ area.. how often do I see discarded coffees, barely touched, half drunk, littering desks and tables. I wonder how much happiness it would bring to the ladies on the front desk if someone were to walk up and give them a coffee or a box of sweets in recognition of their efforts on our behalf. After all they are the first faces our visitors see, they are in many instances the first contact point for anybody calling; they are very helpful ladies who always seem to have a smile on their faces.

How to clean a moving walkway.
Creative Commons License photo credit: jronaldlee

A few years ago, when I worked on a different site, we used to have a cleaner called Tom. He was a lovely Irish man, in his late 50s, he’d had his ups and downs in life but he was always there with a smile and a story. He really was an interesting man and was great to be around, if you took the time to speak to him. To those of us who took the time to, he brightened up your day.

How many other people have jobs like that? How about the office cleaners, the people who man the car park, the people who work in the canteen clearing tables and wiping down? They all play a part in how your ‘organisation’ runs, in creating your work environment and culture. I wonder how many of them actually feel valued or that their contribution is recognised?

Food for thought…