Have you been nice to a stranger today?

Warning, this blog post has nothing to do with HR Technology.

Last week a friend of mine was in the hospital for some major surgery. The operation was a success and the friend recuperated for a few days in cardiac intensive care. At the end of the week she was moved from cardiac intensive care to a regular room. As part of the move to the new room, an orderly put her in a wheelchair and rolled her to x-ray for a couple of quick pictures. On the way to x-ray, my friend felt like she was being wheeled a little too fast and was feeling a bit sick to her stomach but decided to remain calm and not complain. Once back in her new room she thanked the orderly for taking her to x-ray and back to her room.

The next day she was rather abruptly released from the hospital. Unfortunately several hours later some complications set in and after a quick consultation with the doctor an ambulance was summoned to bring her to the emergency room. Back at the hospital the same orderly showed up to take her to get more x-rays. He immediately recognized her and felt bad that she had to come back to the hospital so quickly. There was a long line of emergency patients waiting for x-rays so the orderly sidesteps the rules and took my friend to another part of the hospital (not related to the emergency department) where there was an x-ray department with no one waiting. As my went in to the x-ray room, she heard the orderly say to the x-ray staff: “You take good care of her, this lady was just in the hospital earlier today and she is a very nice lady”.

Although in pain, my friend smiled inside and realized that simply being nice and saying thank you to the orderly allowed her to get some extra special treatment at the hospital.

So, have you been nice to a stranger today?