One Grocery Store's Most Important Employee....Boy With Down Syndrome

--by Barbara Glanz I always leave my telephone number and e-mail address with audiences, encouraging them to call me if they have questions or want to share a success story they experienced by adding a personal signature to their work. About a month after I had spoken to the supermarket folks I received a call from a front-line customer contact person, a nineteen-year-old bagger named Johnny. The caller, who proudly informed me that he was a Down syndrome youngster, told me his story. "Barbara, I liked what you talked about!" Johnny said excitedly, "but I didn't think I could do anything special for our customers... After all, I'm just a bagger. He decided that every night when he came home from work, he would find a thought for the day. "If I can't find a saying I like," Johnny said proudly, "I think one up!" With the help of his dad, he copied and cut out each quote of the day. "When I finished bagging someone's groceries, I put my thought for the day in their bag and say, 'Thanks for shopping with us.'"

A month later the store manager called me. He told me... "When I was making my rounds, I found the line at Johnny's checkout was three times longer than anyone else's! It went all the way down the frozen food isle. I was concerned, so I announced 'Get more cashiers out here; get more lanes open!' all the while trying to get these people to change lanes. But no one would move. They all said, "No, it's okay - we want to be in Johnny's lane - we want his 'Thought for the Day.'"

Johnny's spirit of service transformed that store.

The manager later called and told me how each of his departments was coming up with their own personal touch and all because of one young man with Down syndrome who decided he could make a difference!

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