Johnny’s Big Thought

By Bigg Success Staff
01-03-08

Success Stories

Every single one of us has the ability to make a significant difference in the world. That’s the lesson we can learn from this great story from Barbara Glanz’s wonderful book
CARE Packages for the Workplace–Dozens of Little Things You Can Do to Regenerate Spirit at Work.

Johnny is a bagger at a grocery store. He attended a presentation by Glanz about putting your mark on your work. Johnny took it to heart.

Here’s what Johnny did …
Johnny had an idea for putting his stamp on customer service. He would come up with a thought every day and put it in every customer’s grocery bag.

He went home that night and asked his dad to teach him how to use the computer. You see, Johnny has Down’s syndrome. His dad helped him develop a three column by three row page.

When he gets home from work each night, Johnny finds a thought for the next day. Sometimes he can’t find a good one, so he makes one up! With his dad’s help, he types it into the computer. They copy it into the other eight sections of the page. Then they print it out.

Johnny cuts up the nine thoughts and then personally signs the back of each one. With demand being what it is, Johnny signs at least 1,800 thoughts each day.

Here’s what happened as a result …
The store manager has noticed that Johnny’s thoughts are in huge demand. He first noticed it when he was walking through the store one day and there was a long line. He immediately started barking for more lanes to be open.

But the customers didn’t move – they wanted to be in Johnny’s lane so they got his thought for the day! One customer told the store manager that she used to only shop at his store once a week. Now she only comes to his store – because she wants Johnny’s thought for the day! Johnny’s thought has turned shopping into an experience for his customers.

Other employees also noticed what Johnny was doing. The people in the floral department started thinking about how they could put their mark on customer service. Now, when a flower breaks off or isn’t going to be used, they don’t just throw it away like they used to. They find an elderly woman or a young girl and personally pin it on her!

One of the meat packers loves Snoopy. He bought 50,000 Snoopy stickers, which he puts on every piece of meat he packs. Johnny’s thought has made work fun for his co-workers.

We applaud Johnny’s bigg success!

Hear today's lesson and laugh on The Bigg Success Show. 

(Image of grocery bag by yanyanyanyanyan, CC 2.0)