There are few examples in life where I can say I’ve actually seen proof that the the idea that doing good, or being kind, really results in any benefit to you. But when it comes to just being friendly to genuine people, I’ve noticed it always does pay off.
Action: Talk to and make a cup of tea and buscuits for the night porters at the hospital I worked in.
Unintended result: Could leave roughly 45 minutes early from work every night, with them as the only witness. Of course, they never told 
Action: Talk to the drivers and car maintenance people at the car hire company I worked for.
Result: Hardly ever had to clean a car myself – they’d always do it for me!
Action: Befriending the warehouse workers at the last company I worked for.
Result: Anything I needed done with equipment, they’d go the extra mile for me.
Action: Be friendly to the person I’m ordering lunch from every day. They’re human beings too!
Result: Frequently received free drinks, compliance with my fussiness (”I know it takes you ten minutes to make from scratch but can you do this without mayonnaise?”)
Action: Smile and talk to the guy washing cars outside the gym every day.
Result: Free car washes!
… This all hit me the other day, after my free car wash at the gym. I realised that nobody else is getting free car washes. Because nobody else is stopping to talk to the guy washing cars. Apparently nobody else is interested in learning that he is from Ghana, that he is over here with his wife and that his 15 year old only child has not been granted a visa to come too. All you have to do is smile. I’m not an outgoing person, I don’t go up to somebody and start talking to them, but if you smile at somebody every time you walk past, say “good morning,” they’ll notice, and one day they’ll say “excuse me – what’s your name?”, and you’ll have a new friend!
I never ignore or look down upon anybody doing a job, because they’re working far harder than many people I know. I think it runs in the family, because I remember a story my mother told me about my grandfather. He worked as a schoolteacher in Borneo, which was under British influence and highly class-conscious. Most people wouldn’t even dream of making eye contact with, let alone talking to, the guy who operated the school gates. But every time my grandfather went to work, he would say hello to the man whose job it was to lift the gates for the cars.
Then the communist takeover happened. All the British were kicked out, all the teachers lost their jobs. But my grandfather didn’t. The guy he’d been saying hello to every day was a communist sleeper agent, and he made sure that my grandfather kept his job, his house, his car, his life.
A smile always pays off. It’s the only thing in life that does.
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