My friend’s sudden
query to our waitress startled me. Our dinner at a popular pizza restaurant had seemed uneventful, and I wondered what Eileen
was up to.
The manager appeared at our
table a few minutes later. “What can I do for you?” she asked hesitantly, as if she were expecting yet another
reprimand from an angry customer.
“I just wanted you
to know that our waitress tonight has really been exceptional,” Eileen began. Then she described several things our
server had done that impressed her.
The manager was obviously
relieved—and delighted. So was the waitress, who was standing nearby. The four of us laughed and chatted for a few minutes.
Eileen had made the day of two hard-working women ... and left an indelible impression on me of the power of positive words.
When we think about our words,
it’s easy to focus on the ones we’d like to retrieve. Fortunately, however, there are certain phrases that are
almost always the right thing to say—words that communicate love and encouragement.
