In a world where simple kindnesses can feel rare, here is a story of how one person’s kindness led to another kindness, and so on 😊
Ellen, a long-time customer, had been billed for a clean and tune and was upset. She called a few times about the bill since HEAP was supposed to cover it. Our Heather Thomas in customer service explained to Ellen that we had no record of it being covered. Ellen called in a few more times insisting it should have been covered. When Heather reached out to HEAP and they had no record of it either, it seemed we had reached a dead end. We felt sorry, but the possibility that HEAP would cover the clean and tune now were nil.
A few weeks went by, and then Ellen called Heather back to apologize. The HEAP approval she was looking at was from last year’s cleaning and she felt badly that she had called so many times about it. Ellen explained how she is going through cancer treatments which means that sometimes things are not clear to her. Heather appreciated knowing what had happened but was still unsettled.
After the call, Heather wanted to do more and took this puzzle to Dan Mattice. “I could tell Ellen was going through a battle of her own. She is a long-time customer and I wanted to find a way to help. Dan agreed and decided we should cover the cleaning for her and reverse the charge. When I called to let her know, Ellen was surprised and so very pleased we would do that for her.”
Then, just the other day, Ellen came in to pay her propane bill and brought along a lovely bouquet of flowers for Heather. The flowers were from Ellen’s 94-year-old mother, as a thank you to Heather for her help with Ellen’s situation and for her excellent customer service.
Heather recalls, “She made me cry a little. It is such a sweet gesture. It’s a nice feeling when you can help out a long-time customer. It’s even better when you can help someone smile when they are going through a hard time.”
And so, it seems small kindnesses are passed on from person to person. What if we all chose the route of kindness? What starts out small can grow – like a chain reaction of kindnesses. Try it for yourself and be ready to dole out something nice next time opportunity knocks; a helping hand, a sincere compliment, an apology, or even a gift. You might be surprised at how you can tip the scales to help make the world a little sweeter.
