File this under: discursive musings on kindness. 

In line at the coffee spot this morning (truly, where all the world's great thinkers commune), I was saddened to watch the customer in front of me devolve his demeanor from 'tolerant' to 'downright rude.'  You see, the poor barista hadn't understood his request to "put the ice over the top of the lid."   Such a clear request, after all...

As a high school and college student I held down quite a few lower-level service industry jobs so perhaps I'm a bit oversensitive but just the same, nothing makes my blood boil quite so quickly as seeing someone mistreat a waitress, coffee guy, package handler, etc.  On that note, it's extremely important to me that the company I work for treats its employees--every last one--and its customers with utmost respect.

I wouldn't say we're perfect in that regard--no company is.  But I will say that I am very often taken by pleasant surprise by a kind e-mail our owner's sent to a customer, or the way in which our comptroller walks another customer through a billing issue related to their painting project.  Coming into the office often feels like coming in from the cold--even in the summertime--and for that I'm pretty grateful.  I think we do things the right way here at Catchlight.