This is a very sound but seldom honored concept. Most success seekers are so taken with trying to make high-powered friends that they treat people in low places like they’re invisible. My wife recently attended a speech given by former Secretary of State, Colin Powell. During his speech, he mentioned that he always took the time to make sure he treated the parking garage attendants with dignity and respect. One day he noticed that the cars in the garage were parked three deep, bumper-to-bumper. Out of curiosity he asked one of the attendants whose cars were parked in the back row. He responded, “Those belong to the people who either treat us like dirt or like we don’t exist.” He went on, “It takes a lot longer to retrieve a car from the back row than it does the front row.” Then Mr. Powell asked whose cars were parked in the front row. “Those belong to people like you who care about us and what we do.” The lesson here is that if you treat parking garage attendants, doormen, servers, people who bus dishes and custodians with dignity and respect, they will go out of their way to make your life better and richer in lots of different ways.
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This was a great story and so true. I have seen this done over and over again. It is funny how people perceive you with the clothes you wear sometimes. Recently I dropped my car of for repair in sweats and picked the car up in a suit. It was amazing how differently that same person treated me in comparison when I picked the car up. Now I am not saying I was mistreated but the attention that I received was noticeably different. I learned from my parents at a very young age to treat everyone with kindness and respect and that in God’s eyes we are all the same.
Hi Ross—We were at a dinner party with the neighbors last night and
were talking about all the important people who have come to BH to
give speeches for our Econ Club. (Sarah Palin, Coach Izzo, George
Bush were here recently) One of our friends is on the Board for the club
and has had a private dinner with most of the speakers over the years.
We talked about each of our favorites. (Margaret Thatcher was mine.) He commented that Colin Powell
was his all-time favorite because he was the type of guy you could have
a beer with at the Welcome Inn, and you knew he really cared about you! So I enjoyed your comments…and hope to see you and Marcia
this summer! Hi to all…Diana
PS Note my new email
@diana kamp
@Henk Schuitemaker
Dear Henk,
Thank you so much for your great comments. This is a lesson that so many people fail to get. Have a great day! Ross
@diana kamp
Dear Diana,
Thank you so much for the comments about Colin Powell. He’s one of the few people around Washington that I’ve never heard a negative comment about. All the best, Ross