One of my favorite places to work was at the coffee kiosk in a hospital. The hospital was very close to brand new when I worked there - had some of the best doctors in the world joining their staff and it is still an amazing place. Amazing things happen there. They have the best heart center in the region and everyone who works there is genuinely nice.

My customers were a mix of doctors and staff of the hospital, and patients and patients families. Sometimes people would come down crying, and in a hospital - you never know what happened, but with that we also had the freedom of giving them their coffee for free. My boss always urged, “If they look like they are really down, do what you need to do.” I gave away cookies to crying kids and if I could get them to smile for just a second? I’ve been there. Sometimes you just need to feel like someone cares.

The hospital also did this amazing thing, where if you were the family of a patient the doctor could give away “sunshine bucks” which were supposed to be a spot of sunshine - they were $20 dollars in free… whatever. You could spend it any way you wanted, and the doctors and nurses truly cared so we had a lot of those turned in.

One doctor, or nurse - I don’t remember her specific job title - started a habit that had amazing results. We did punch cards, and when hers was full - she would leave it with me, to use for the next person so they’re drink would be free. Every single time, the next person would take the free drink, only after leaving money for the next person.

The longest chain was on a Thursday morning (Thursdays at the hospital were crazy. They were surgery days - and the whole staff was there) she finished up her punch card and left it for me. The next person took the free drink, but left me a ten - to pay for the next few drinks. The man behind her, saw the gesture, paid for his coffee and left me fifty dollars.

The rest of the day, drinks were free for everyone. Anyone who had extra cash, left it with me to use for more free drinks for the people who needed it. It didn’t matter if a customer couldn’t leave money for the next person, what mattered was that their day was made better. And anyone who did leave money was so inspired by the original act that they left sometimes 10x what their drink would have cost normally.

I was the opening shift, and when I went in on Friday there was a little envelope of money in the drawer “Pay it forward” money was written on it. The money from the last day STILL hadn’t run out, and lasted well into the afternoon, it was… absolutely amazing.

  1. baristababble posted this