McDonald’s Understands the Value of Chicago Cashier’s Act of Kindness

 A Chicago McDonald’s cashier recently received praise from his boss when the cashier helped a handicapped elderly man with his meal. Instead of seeing the employee as just a cog in a wheel during the busy dinner rush, the boss showed appreciation to a worker who stepped outside his job description to do what was right.

A photo of the worker, Kenny, showing him cutting up the disabled man’s food, was posted on a Facebook page and quickly went viral. Social media has the power to praise a company’s actions or vilify them in a matter of moments. The Facebook post has been shared more than 400,000 times--to the advantage of both the employee who received recognition for his actions, and McDonald’s itself.

On the opposite end of the feel-good spectrum is the fallout when Turning Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli tried to justify a 4,000 percent increase in price for Daraprim, a drug used by some AIDS and cancer patients. The social media outrage was immediate and he was forced to retreat. Companies that become so enamored with profits lose their humanity. They don’t care who they hurt—employee or customer. Eventually, this mindset hurts their bottom line.

According to the photographer who posted the McDonald’s photo, the man had asked Kenny, who was working the cash register, for help during a busy time of the day. Kenny left his post, washed his hands, put on gloves and went about helping the man. A boss, only looking at sales numbers, would have berated him for leaving his station. Kenny’s boss saw the bigger picture.

Companies that recognize the value of their employees have a leg up on their competition. A corporate culture that only has an eye on the bottom line will not be as successful as those companies that take into account the human factor in business. Studies show repeatedly that companies with a culture of praise and sincere appreciation perform better than those that don’t.

Enrich Your Life: Befriend an Extrovert if You’re an Introvert, or an Introvert if You’re an Extrovert

I went to the movies recently with a friend. It was billed as an action comedy and I was looking forward to some good laughs. What I hadn’t realized is that the movie was 90% action and 10% comedy. Oh, the comedy was great! We’re talking LOL rolling in the aisles funny--and the action was just as good. As long as your thing is roller-coaster hyper-warp in-your-face action. Great stuff, but by the end of the movie I was limp as a rag.

As I dragged my exhausted introvert self out of the theater, my friend was bounding down the aisle: “Wasn’t that terrific?! I feel so energized I could jump the moon! Let’s go clubbing!” I barely managed a weak giggle in response.

In typical extrovert fashion, my friend was revitalized by the action, recharged by every crash, boom and splat. I, in typical introvert fashion, wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and recuperate for oh, 10 hours. Get up for a few, and then take a nap. Even though I’d done nothing more than sit in a movie theater for a couple of hours, I was utterly depleted by all that adrenalin charged action.

Such is the essential difference between an introvert and an extrovert. An introvert thrives on inner stimulation--thinking, quiet reading, silence. An extrovert thrives on outer stimulation--parties, people, socializing.

Now you would think, gee, just make sure all your friends are the same as you: introverts with introverts, extroverts with extroverts. Yet here am I, a died in the wool inveterate introvert, saying “NO!!” That’s not what you want! Not if you want a full life.

Because as much as I like thinking, quiet reading and silence, I would never have those LOL moments in a movie theater without my extrovert friend. Or gone to a raucous concert, clapping and cheering with the best of them. Or found out how much fun I could have participating in party games, instead of observing from the sidelines.

The very differences between us have opened me to a world of experiences I would otherwise never have known, much less learned to enjoy. And my extrovert friend has confided to me that he has been expanded by the depth of the conversations we sometimes indulge in, the magic of silence we’ve shared hiking a trail, or watching a flight of pelicans over the ocean.

People are wonderful. The more we appreciate and enjoy our differences, the more we enrich our own lives, as well as the lives of others.