The extra mile? When did we forget to be nice?

A brighter light is shined on being kind and taking the time to go the extra mile for others. These are great things, but at what point did we as humans deprogram ourselves to not put our family, friends, neighbors, and sometimes total strangers first?

During a recent meeting with Wisper associates, the phrase “spoiled customer” came up in the conversation. Why exactly are they spoiled? The easy answer is that our employees put them first and legitimately care about them and the services we provide them to make their lives easier.

Wow. What a good problem to have. Right?

It’s inspiring to know that I work with more than 200 other people who share the same core values of service and caring for others. Wisper is a company with a soul.

Every day on both personal and professional social media there seems to be some post about someone helping an elderly person cross the street or rescuing a stray dog. You all know at I’m talking about.

Don’t get me wrong, these are great things, most times done without gratitude, recognition, or second thoughts. Hopefully, posting acts of kindness will inspire others to act accordingly. Are those actions and posts for the right reasons?

What happened to just being good humans? Are these acts of kindness really so rare that they need to be publicized and documented like a bigfoot sighting? Personally, I wish there were more of both.

A great expression I’m sure you’ve all heard is “What do you do when no one is watching?” Can kindness, donations, volunteering, and just generally taking care of each other happen without a social media post? Kind of like working out…but that’s another blog!

In a recent magazine interview, Wisper’s Chief Technology Officer Chris Sigley said Wisper wants to provide “not just the last mile, but the last foot” of a customer’s experience.

That’s why our customers are “spoiled”. Wisper goes that extra distance and when they do have an issue, they are even more distraught and frankly frustrated because they are used to great internet and customer service. Plus, Wisper brings them something no other companies will….kindness.

In addition to my duties at Wisper, I’ve been a first responder for nearly 20 years. A few weeks ago there was a snowstorm in our area which made driving, let’s say, challenging. About two in the afternoon we get a call for a car spinning out in the median on the highway.

Long story short, the driver was fine and luckily her car didn’t suffer any damage, she was just shaken up as you can imagine. Her husband quickly arrived on the scene and then something very funny happened.

Since the shoulder of the road was a bit treacherous both myself and one of the police officers asked the driver if she’d like one of us to help her to her husband’s vehicle while he negotiated a tow truck.

I asked her, “Bet when you woke up this morning, you never dreamed you’d have a cop and a fireman fighting over who got to walk you to your car”. As you can imagine it brought a smile to her face and hopefully put a better spin on what could have been a very bad day.

When I got back in the firetruck I took the opportunity to give a non-textbook lesson to one of our “probies” (probationary firefighters). This was an extra mile moment. A little bit of effort from us went a long way. It didn’t need a social post or thank you. It should be organic.

It doesn’t cost us a thing to be a good person and to “spoil” everyone we encounter. Take an extra second, open that door for someone, let the other driver go first, or just flash a smile in the store. It goes a long way and it might even be contagious!