Recently I bought a coffee in the Tim Horton’s drive thru. A very pleasant young man took my order and introduced himself as Clark Kent. I chuckled and asked if this was his real name as I read Clark Kent on his name. He said no but today it was his favourite superhero. He proceeded to tell me yesterday was Parker Stevenson and tomorrow would be the Incredible Hulk. Hearing his passion and watching his jovial attitude purely made my day! This guy was working in a Tim Horton’s drive thru but having as much fun and spirit as if he was the actual superhero!
Clark Kent’s real message is to love what you do! I’m certain the Tim Horton’s colleague hand book probably makes no reference to the repercussions of impersonating superheroes however I think Clark Kent is their best company ambassador. He loves what he does and tells the world through his commitment to customer service accompanied by an enormous smile on his face.
Clark Kent tells us several lessons:
1. Love What You Do. The opposite holds even more truth; - don’t do it if you don’t love it. We’ve all had jobs in our life that were crutches between our next great gig. What Clark shows us is love what you’re doing even if it is serving coffee in a drive thru. This drive thru experience was by far my greatest and one I’ll soon not forget
2. Attitude. No matter the situation, we are governed by our attitude. We can decide to wallow in the sorrows of a less than favourable situation or can we make the best of it; creating a virus around us. It must get cold hanging out a drive thru window however I would never have known that with Clark Kent. I guess being a superhero gives you special powers to tolerate the cold.
3. Always Laugh. Laughing is infectious and it’s hard not to laugh with others who are laughing. There is good, clean humour to be found it almost any situation and most people will laugh with you, not at you. Studies indicate people have a much healthier lifestyle when they laugh regularly. Make it a regular habit to laugh daily.
4. Challenge The Status Quo. I’m 99.9% certain Tim Horton’s does not endorse employees creating adhoc superhero names listed on their name tags. Clark Kent wasn’t concerned with that; he was focused on creating very positive customer service interactions and a jovial work environment.
We have all experienced those less than favourable customer interactions of someone who doesn't love what they do. Do us all a favour: don’t do if you don't love it.
