As people get a deeper understanding (and appreciation) of the mind-sets, they inevitably start to see things differently. Robert Cloutier of San Diego is one such person. Here’s a note Robert sent to me last week and encouraged me to share:
“I ran into a busy brewery last night (Valentine’s Day) at 9:45 PM and sat at the bar for roughly thirty minutes. I had one cocktail while I waited for a to-go order. Luckily, the Lakers versus Clippers game was on the television in front of me, so I got to watch the continued changing of the guard in Los Angeles regarding which basketball team is relevant (look no further than Dwight Howard’s lack of professionalism when searching for reasons for the Lakers broken culture).”
“Once I sat down, the bartender immediately greeted me. She asked my name and introduced herself as Gabby. Then, she pointed to the other two bartenders at the other end of the bar and told me their names as well.”
“As I was looking over the menu Gabby offered suggestions and was especially helpful. I told her I was ready to order, but I actually wasn’t. As I sat there and stalled, she smiled and told me that she was there all night and that there was no rush. After I finally decided, she advised me on how to take advantage of the happy hour prices and save a little money.”
“I finally ordered and set my sights back on the basketball game. However, I couldn’t help but notice that Gabby treated everyone in the same polite manner. I noticed that Gabby used other patron names in addressing them and treated her coworkers warmly. In the busy bar atmosphere, there were a few times when she reluctantly had to shout to the other end of the bar for communication. Even then, she started every sentence with ‘please’ and ended every sentence with a ‘thank you’.”
“She checked on me a few times and each time addressed me by my name. Once my food came, Gabby came out from behind the bar and put my items in the to-go bag, rather than just handing them to me. Before she put my food in the bag, she opened up each of the boxes to show me what I had ordered.”
“To say it was busy that night would be a large understatement. It is one of the few open places on Valentine’s Day in a city of close to 200,000 people—it was a mob scene. As I watched Gabby move with efficiency and grace, I thought, “there is a total professional.” As far as mindsets, I saw all of them and was reminded again of what continues to build momentum in my brain—when the mindsets are present, ANY technical competence can be learned. In other words, I will take Gabby with her professional mindsets and train her from scratch in regards to technical competence over some other person with high technical competence without the professional mindsets. I was truly inspired watching Gabby behind the bar. She’s one of the few that really ‘get it’.”
Gabby was obviously amazing…to the degree that Robert (a super busy guy) felt compelled to write about it. The story is especially rich. What do you take from it?