The beginning- a tribute to Steve

Good evening, or for some good morning.

I want to take this time to first and foremost say thanks. Thank you to all of those out there that work the crappy jobs. This means thank you to all of the fast food employees, restaurant chefs, cooks, hosts/hostesses, waitress/waiters and servers. Thank you to the retail store clerks who are just trying to make it to 9 p.m. when that last customer comes in at 8:59 p.m. Thank you to anyone who has had to struggle to keep that smile on their face while serving the needs of another in exchange for a mere minimum wage. Again, I say thanks.

You see, I want this blog to be dedicated to recognizing those who are often brushed off and disregarded. Or worse, those who are complained about for making their customer's extra fatty burger not fat enough. Seriously? Yeah. Seriously.

I want to feature those who keep going despite the constant disrespect. I also want to pay tribute to the late night diner waitress who smiles even though Drunken McFratty is puking under her table. I want to honor those who we all, yes even myself, forget to thank.

And thus, an idea was born. Actually, this one has been a long time coming...let's begin when I was in college.

At the University of West Georgia, I was a young scholar eager to learn and make good grades...which translation means I was up all hours of the night doing God knows what. Most of the time I was probably out getting a snack. My friends and I often frequented the local Taco Bell. Our Taco Bell was special in Carrollton, GA. Very special. We always had great service. There was this one guy at the drive thru who always had a smile on his face and would tell my friends and I "Be safe out there and have a great night." It was great. He was always looking out for us. One time, he in fact scared off a creepy man who had walked up to my car and tried to get my passenger to roll down the window. I always said to myself, I wish there was something I could do to let this guy know how much he rocks.

But alas, I never really followed through (I blame college for making me so lazy).

Jump ahead in time a few more years. I'm now an even bigger scholar (translation lazy person not wanting to get a job in the "real world") in graduate school at the awesome Auburn University (yeah buddy- War Damn Eagle). Anyways, I'm going to a wedding one weekend (this past weekend) and on the way home from the wedding my husband (Tim-he's a Bulldog) and we stop at a Burger King because Tim needed a soda (and I may have been hungry again).

We're at the Burger King and I had been telling Tim about my idea to start calling and saying thank you to managers at places to *gasp* not complain, but to thank people. And what do you know? I met Steve. Steve was a cool guy. He was the manager at Burger King. He took great care of Tim and I. And I thanked him and told him he would be the first post in my blog. So here's to you Steve. Thanks for the awesome #11 without that yucky sauce. It truly made my evening.

And here we are. You have now made it through my first post.

Please join me as I grow this 'thank you have a nice day' movement. I'll keep you updated on my awesome run-ins with great service, start to feature certain employees (i.e. Employee of the Week/Month), and some other cool surprises that I have in store.

So tell a friend about the blog, and tell your next drive thru server THANKS!