Yesterday I found myself scouring the digital archive at my printing company trying to locate a file I was supposed to have stored for a customer. I came up empty at every turn and after searching frantically in every nook and cranny of our system it was clear that the file simply wasn’t here.

Defeated, I called the customer to let them know I had failed to store the file as we had agreed. I fully expected the customer to be frustrated, upset, or just plain mad that I hadn’t held up my end of the bargain…and I wouldn’t have blamed them.

The customer answered my call, I let them know about the missing file, and to my great relief they responded to my bad news by graciously extending kindness.

This exchange led me to post the card in the above photo on the wall in the lobby of the shop* as a reminder that our kindness and graciousness can have a profound impact on the people with whom we share it. You can’t control how people treat you, but you are in control of how you treat them.

Kindness matters and it can change everything.

*We’ve dubbed our lobby the Fortress of Gratitude and its walls are littered with dozens and dozens of notes describing what our customers are thankful for.