Bad service is exhausting. I’m in the middle of an email exchange with a company that has yet to send me a gift I ordered for someone more than six weeks ago. The item is in some sort of retail purgatory; it’s marked PAID but has yet to be marked SHIPPED. This business has cute, engaging ads on social media and fair prices. Purchasing from them is easy. But follow through on their part is abysmal. They simply don’t deliver on their promises, and it leaves me feeling frustrated with them and the world whenever I think about it.
Over fall break we spent several days in Disney World. Of course it was crowded, it rained several times, and there were some long lines and difficult moments. But I’m not sure there is a large-scale organization that values the customer/visitor experience more than Disney. With very few exceptions, their employees––or “cast members’ as they call them––are friendly, helpful, and seemingly happy to be there. The mottos of being “the happiest {or most magical} place on earth” and “where dreams come true” pervade the culture and actually affect the interactions there. I know accidents, meltdowns, and disappointments still happen. We experienced a few ourselves. But everyone there is trained to try and make each guest’s day the best it can be. And on the whole, they consistently deliver on their promises.
One of the best examples I witnessed of Disney’s day-making guest engagement happened during a parade. Our seats were on a curb between two other families. Just to our left was a mom and her adult daughter who was confined to a wheelchair and had some special needs. Hundreds of people are packed in like sardines on the sidewalks during the parades each day, and many people are in wheelchairs or scooters. So it’s hard to imagine that any one guest could stand out to the parade performers. But once the parade began and the floats started rolling by, I was amazed how many of the princesses, princes, and other performers made a special effort to wink, wave, touch or in some way give special acknowledgement to the woman on our left. And this was to her absolute delight! It was almost more fun to watch her reactions to the characters and the parade than to watch the parade itself.
Disney has clearly trained their people, most especially their people in “high” places atop huge floats and in heavy costume, to take special notice of special people. Their collective goal is to make someone’s day. And I imagine they succeed at doing it several times a day. It’s interesting to witness their attentiveness happen to your own child. When our youngest one ran into a metal pole exiting a ride they were quick to make things better with a certificate for free ice cream. But it might be even more significant when you and your children can witness the “magic” happen to a stranger beside you at a parade. To see someone experience that kind of joy—to see someone get noticed— feels like something of a sacred moment.
If there’s anything I want to take away from a week at Disney besides a set of Mickey ears and some tired legs, it’s a dose of their corporate spirit. Something about watching the lady to my left in that parade makes me want to be a more aware person. I need to apply a little more attentiveness to my interactions with the people and even the strangers I encounter in my corner of the world.
How different would our days feel? How different would our whole world feel if we woke up and asked ourselves in the mornings, “Who can I notice today?” or “Whose day can I make today?”
I don’t think we’re necessarily called to be “the happiest people on earth.” But as Christ-followers I do think we’re encouraged to be people who notice others. People who bear light. People who keep promises and follow through. People who are eager to make someone else’s day.
I love the way Eugene Peterson paraphrases Matthew 5:14-16 in The Message:
Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.
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