Thoughts on kindness

Last week I went to a coffeeshop near my house. I casually ordered an iced americano and handed my credit card. As the part time employee was swiping my card, she told me something. She said that me and my girlfriend, who also goes to this coffeeshop a lot, were her nicest customers. Kindest, most polite customers. She thanked me.

Kindness

I like being kind, and obviously like hearing about it. I wish more people would too. It doesn’t cost anything to show others a smile. It’s not even that difficult to treat others respectfully.

What really bummed me out was the fact that I’m not even that close to the employee. I don’t know her name, and we have never spoken about personal matters. The only interaction my girlfriend and I had with her was saying hello, ordering, paying, and bringing back the cups before leaving. That was it.

 

We did always smile, say hello first, looked into her eyes when ordering, and handed our credit cards politely. But these are just basics; stuff you learn from kindergarten. And this makes us her nicest customers?

Truth be told, I often hate myself for trying to be nice, especially when the other person treats me the opposite. It’s the worst feeling. You feel like you are so desperate to be liked, that you basically turn yourself into a clown. You begin to think that if you don’t fix that attitude, you’ll always be underrated. I mean, nobody likes to be a push over.

 

But if you take a step back, and calm yourself down a little, it becomes clear that all of those doubts stem from your own insecurity, and lack of self-confidence. Power doesn’t come from pushing the other person down; It comes from rising yourself up. Don’t doubt your acts of kindness. You know for sure that they come around.

 

So be a good person. No, go the extra mile to be a kind, and polite person. Being a positive factor in society, and in relationships can never hurt you. Especially in this day and age when sadly, it’s so easy to be appreciated as the nicest customer.