Don’t worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition. — Abraham Lincoln

Today I am grateful for recognition.

As I walked into work today, I saw Rich the store manager walking down one of the aisles and he called out my name.  As I approached him, he began to congratulate me on my “shop.”  A shop is when a secret shopper comes into the store and evaluates you, without you knowing it.  I assumed he was talking about the shop I got on Super Bowl Sunday, where I scored a 100%.  When you do well with a shop, every supervisor is required to come by and congratulate you, in fact you have to initial each of their forms, so they can prove to their bosses, that they are doing their job.  Rich had already congratulated me, I figured he was just following up on it again.

Much to my surprise, he was actually congratulating me on a second shop I had received.  This time the shop was not held by Von’s secret shopper program, but Starbucks’, and I received a five star rating which I learned later is actually quite difficult.

In order to receive a five star rating in a Starbucks’ shop, you unknowingly are put through the ringer by the secret shopper.  If you miss just one thing on their list you don’t fail, but you sure don’t get a five star rating.  The process may include taking the order, and answering all questions about the order including how the item is made.  You also must offer an additional item to the customer, as well as provide the item in a timely order, and not only does it have to be the correct weight, but temperature as well.

The great thing, is we had corporate big wigs in the store the other day, and the president of the company actually congratulated me on my successful first shop.  Well when you get a five star on a Starbucks’ shop, this apparently moves up the chain of command pretty fast and he was in contact with the store manager today expressing his pleasure with my performance.

All throughout the day, I was approached by a number of people that apparently work for Von’s, but I had never seen.  I apparently was the subject of discussion at some big meeting, the last quote I heard was that someone said during the meeting, “this guy is good.”  Needless to say this all made my day.

The cherry on top of the sundae was when the manager of Starbucks’ gave me a Valentine’s card, that simply said, “thank you for all that you do.”

Each day, I wake up and I give thanks for everything under the sun.  I do my best to carry this gratitude throughout the day, and try to spread a bit of good cheer to everyone I can, and it is working.

I am grateful that I am the subject of conversation, and it is good.  One of the quotes I have on the cards that I print out and carry around with me is from Carl Harris, and it says:

Perception is the co-pilot to reality.  How people perceive you will impact how they deal with you.  All the important decisions about your career are made when you’re not in the room.

It is nice to be recognized, and I am grateful that I am worthy of recognition.

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