Amazingly Good Days, Everyday Elita Sohmer Clayman

I was in my doctor’s office today and the young medical assistant Kimberly came in to tell Dennis H.Myers, my physician, she was leaving for the day She came in to wish him a happy weekend and he said to her
“Thank you, you really made this day amazingly good. The day was good because of you.” I asked him why and he said they were overwhelmed by patients and an extra five or six were added and she, Kimberly Bell handled it so well.

Thank you is always nice, but this was particularly kind because the physician was telling a co-employee, his admiration for her work that day and every day. We all love to be admired, loved and respected.

I know a lady who works for a tyrant of a boss. He never compliments anyone and no matter what the employee accomplishes; he always has a remark to make that is not very nice. She and all the employees absolutely dislike him and somehow their dislike colors their work day. Instead of being a pleasant place to spend eight or more hours, it becomes as if they are in jail (her words) and they all yearn for some daylight to fill their days, rather than the storm which is always brewing because of him.

One day, one of the employees said to him “if you dislike your profession so much, you should get out of it, win the lottery or retire. You make our days miserable and when we go home to our spouses and children, we are so out of it, it is terrible. Try one day, to be pleasant to others and you will feel pleasanter to yourself.” With that she quit and left the organization. That night, the tyrant called her up and said he was proud of her for speaking that way to him and if she came back, he would certainly try to live up to what she prescribed. She did come back and she is still there five years later.

The atmosphere changed and the workplace became a kinder and nicer environment and she said production in the workplace increased and everyone had some smiles on their faces as the days progressed. I heard this line on a show “people are more pleasant company when they are dressed up and look well.” He was talking about them going to an event and some of the people were dressed too casually for such a formal type happening. Perhaps, in workplaces, if the employees are allowed to dress down every day, the garments on them tend to let them be more casual and their attitude gets too casual. I know on Fridays, most companies allow the employees to dress during football season in shirts of the admired players and that is very cute. All over here in Baltimore, including me, we wear purple on our bodies, purple sox, purple shirts or blouses, purple ties and even slacks or trousers. I, myself bought a football jacket with a purple emblem on it, of our beloved Ravens football team. I will wear this jacket starting in football season this fall.

I use to have a kitchen colored in purple. Way back in 1964 you could not get things for a kitchen in that way out color. I had to have everything made custom for my draperies, my chairs and my decorations. After about ten years, I changed the color scheme to blue and lo and behold, there appeared everything purple for kitchens. I was ahead of my own time.

When I worked over sixty years ago, in the office of a printing plant, we had to dress nicely, not expensively, but as I use to say ‘gently.’ In those days, women did not wear slacks or pants; we dressed in dresses or skirts and blouses. It was only a printing plant office, but we had to make a nice impression when the customers came in to give their orders or to ask information on the printing jobs.

Most restaurants make the employees wear the same outfit and the outfit is coordinated and clean looking. Some wear ties, even the girls, Olive Garden does that, and others bow ties and everyone looks the same and nice. Other offices, the doctors or dentists wear ties and nice shirts. One doctor, I use to go to made the male doctors wear suit coats and that was a bit much. It inhibited them in their work, but he was the owner of the practice and it was his wish and they all had to abide by it. When he hired a female doctor, they had to wear a suitable outfit too, some wore a suit type jacket and one confided in me that in the summer, it was quite cumbersome. Dennis is finely dressed with matching ties to his gorgeous shirts. I told him that his outfits are more handsome than the suited doctor mentioned above.

Sometimes he wears a charming bow tie and everyone comments how dapper he looks. It is nice to be seen by someone looking well and perhaps the outfits of these people cross over and nice personalities come forward. If the person is like Dennis Myers with a kind, compassionate, caring and considerate personality anyway, the dapperness is a plus.

Even when we are in a medical facility, it is great to be greeted by pleasant employees and happy ones too. Sometimes, you have to find courage to stand up for yourself. I once told a doctor off when he said he did not have time to answer my question. I said “while you were saying you could not answer me, you COULD have answered me.” I told off a plumber this week who fixed a faucet. I asked him if I needed a new one, this one being only two years old and installed by another person. He said “I told you, I would let you know tonight when I call you. You have asked me four times already.” I said “I asked you once if I needed one and the second thing was how much would it cost?” I also added “you are very obnoxious and I wonder how your wife can stand you, all these years you have been married.” He replied rather meekly “she cannot stand me.” I said that I agreed with her. That night, he called to give me a price, and talked so nicely, thanking me for my business etc. It would have been kinder and nicer, had he been not so obnoxious and he has been that way since I started using him. Plumbers, good ones, honest ones and ones that come fast are hard to find; so I put up with it and every other time, he is OK. Now, he will be OK all the time, because I had the courage to stand up for myself and I doubt he will do that again to others.

Pleasant is nice, kindness is nicer; Goethe said “kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together.” Accommodation, helping hands, generosity, charity and assistance are the standards, we should live by; whether in a doctor’s office, a supermarket, a dance or dance competition, a tennis match, a restaurant or anywhere, when more than two people are gathered. All experiences should be great encounters. An old Portuguese proverb says “experience is the fruit of the tree of errors.”

We need not have a fruit of errors, because we are agreeable, warm and gracious in everything we do, including the workplace and our social meetings. This way we can all have amazingly good days, every day.