Let me tell you about what turned out to be one of the best jobs I’ve ever had. The job description was simple enough: working in a warehouse, packing up small orders for children’s toys to be shipped away. When I appeared for the interview, I knew this was going to be different; I noticed stickers on the walls of her office saying things like, “Positivity,” “Courage,” and, “Inner Strength,” as well as numerous motivational posters.

The owner hired me, and after she introduced me to her warehouse staff — all of them! — I quickly learned that she saw her staff more as family than as employees. For example, she didn’t like running operations in split shifts: we all started in the morning or we all started in the afternoon, and we all went on break at the same time. To be sure we all could make it to work, she actually bought a retired school bus that she would drive every weekday to pick us all up for work — which saved us a HECK of a lot of money on gas!

Each morning, we’d have a pep talk and review our progress as a whole; there were no separate departments. Occasionally, in the middle of the day, we would have to travel to another warehouse to pick up new shipments — and we all went as a group together.

Something I noticed throughout the warehouse was printed signs with “Self Bullying” in a red circle with a line going through it. I quickly found out what that was about when, one day, I was zoned out and realized I had screwed up an entire set of orders.

Me: “Oh, God, I’m an idiot! It’s right there, plain as day, and I screw it up like a moron!“

Immediately, my coworkers gasped and began vigorously shaking their heads “no,” like I had just used a string of profanities in front of a kid.

Owner: “Excuse me. Who said that?”

Me: *Defensively* “No, I was referring to myself. I was saying I was the idiot because…”

I started to explain my blatant error.

Owner: “I don’t care if you boxed up your muddy work boots and it got mailed to a customer. Would you have liked for me to come and scream what you said right to your face for making an honest mistake?”

Me: “No, but it was a dumb mistake—”

Owner: “I didn’t ask about the mistake. I asked you plain and simple: would you have liked it if I came and yelled what you said to your face?”

Me: “No. I wouldn’t.”

Owner: “Then why give yourself the same disrespect? Over here. This way! “

She escorted me to her office and pointed to a mirror on the wall that had a printed sign on it saying, “You are incredible!”

Owner: “Apologize to yourself. I mean it. And don’t smirk.”

I felt myself turn red as I apologized to myself in the mirror.

Owner: “Now stand there and think of ten positive things about yourself. Don’t come back until you do.”

She started to walk away.

Me: “Ten?!”

Owner: “That’s what I said.”

Having survived an abusive childhood, along with high school bullying and dealing with a serious self-image issue, I could barely come up with three! [Owner] let me back to work after about thirty minutes, despite my coming up with only six positive things. She made it clear that she wanted me to present a written list of ten positive things about myself by the end of the week — and she was serious!

It was after a few weeks of working there that I realized how much I had been subconsciously bullying myself on a consistent basis, and I realized I had to implement the same “zero-tolerance” policy at home as was enforced at work every time I had the urge to mutter to myself, “You’re such an idiot!” for leaving my fridge open or dropping juice on the floor.

Working like that as a family rather than as a group of coworkers helped me get over my social anxiety and eventually helped repair my badly damaged self-esteem.

I later learned from a close friend of [Owner]’s why she had such a low tolerance for self-bullying and was constantly promoting uplifting words. As it turns out, she had been married for nineteen years to a raging narcissist who had completely destroyed her psyche to the point where she ultimately tried to commit suicide because he had her feeling completely worthless.

Whatever therapy she went to after she’d left him DEFINITELY worked — so much so that she successfully passes it along to everyone else!

That job ranks as the best job I’ve ever had — and probably ever will have.

This story is part of our end-of-year Feel Good roundup for 2022!

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We’ve run out of medium-sized fountain drink cups, so we were giving out large ones instead for the price of a medium. I explain this to one customer.

Customer: *Flipping out* “I should get the drink for free since it isn’t the size that I wanted!”

My manager, tired after multiple long shifts and dealing with months of short-staffing, takes the customer’s cup, gets some scissors, and cuts off the top inch and a half.

Manager: “There. It’s a medium now.”

This made the customer realize the ridiculousness of her request and she stormed out. My manager shrugged and moved on with his day.

When I was eighteen, I noticed an ad in the paper saying that a gas station was hiring. I decided to head down to the local branch and talk to the owner.

Me: “Hi. I read that ‘Help Wanted’ ad of yours in the paper.”

Boss: “What ad?”

Me: “Uh… the… ad? In the local paper?”

Boss: “I didn’t post any ad.”

Me: “No?”

Boss: “No. Are you sure it wasn’t [Franchise Location ten miles away]?”

Me: “Oh… I guess it could have been.”

Boss: “However… now that you mention it… I kind of do need some more people…”

I ended up working part-time there for two years. And yes, the ad was for that other station.

A couple of years ago, my dad discovered that there was a hole in the roof. He could stand in the hallway and look right up into the sky through the hole. This was at the beginning of September, and the weather forecast mentioned heavy rain that afternoon.

As Dad always wants to support businesses in their tiny hometown, he called the only roofer in town listed in the phone book.

Dad: “Hi, I’m [Dad] at [address]. There is a hole in my roof that needs to get fixed.”

Roofer #1: “Uh-huh. I can drop by in May.”

Dad: “May? That’s eight months from now. I can see the sky through this hole and it needs to be fixed ASAP.”

Roofer #1: “Okay, so, see you in May, then.”

Dad: “Absolutely not. Bye.”

Dad was not happy when he consulted the phone book again and called a roofer in a neighbouring town.

Dad: “Hi, I’m [Dad] at [address] in [Town]. There is a hole in my roof that needs to be fixed.”

Roofer #2: “Oh, that doesn’t sound good at all. I could— Wait, did you say [address]?”

Dad: “Yep.”

Roofer #2: “I’m over at [Parallell Street] on a job. My lunch break is in half an hour. I’ll drop by and check your roof then if that’s okay with you.”

Dad: “Sounds good!”

The roofer came over and agreed that the hole needed to be fixed ASAP. He called again right after his lunch break.

Roofer #2: “Hi again. So, your roof needs to be fixed urgently. We are basically done here, and what’s left is just cosmetic. I want to fix your roof before this incoming rainstorm. I’ve talked to the homeowner here, and we agreed to finish his roof tomorrow, instead. He was very eager to help out a neighbour in need.”

My dad has been recommending one of these roofers ever since — the other, not so much.

But it was quite the coincidence that the good roofer was working so close and could drop by basically right away.

This story is part of the Highest-Voted-Stories Of-2022 roundup!

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The restaurant where I work is very popular since it’s in a small town, so it’s pretty common to have people stay past closing. We close at 9:00 pm every day, but we don’t have our hours posted in big bold letters inside the restaurant. They’re only available online and on a small sign outside, so I understand that some people will stay past 9:00 pm accidentally.

We don’t seat anyone after that hour, but we’re not allowed to deny a party of six who walks in at 8:59, no matter how much it annoys us. We also can’t make people leave, and it’s common for a**holes to abuse that policy. Everyone I’ve worked with — me included — has had their fair share of late nights when one table doesn’t want to leave no matter what. We hate those people, but this is the first table I had that I wasn’t annoyed by.

This couple sits down in my section at 7:00 pm, and they finish their food in thirty minutes. Every time I go and check on them, they’re very deep in conversation, and I hate to interrupt. In fact, they are so caught up in one another that they don’t even realize I am there at first; I have to announce myself to get their attention.

Me: “Can I offer you all dessert or a refill on your drinks?”

Couple: “We’re good, thanks.”

So, I bring them their check and work on my other tables.

Two hours later, by 9:00 pm, every other table except for this couple has left. My fellow waiters are mopping their sections, the cashiers are counting money, and the busser is collecting all the trash. All in all, it is very obvious we are closing, but this couple is still so caught up in one another that they don’t even bat an eye. I am the only one not able to clean, so I am helping the cashiers.

After thirty minutes of that, the busser asks me if I can take the couple’s cups so the busser can wash them and go home. Then, the cashier asks me to take the mobile register to the couple instead of the front so they can already be paid for and the money can be closed, so the cashier can go home, as well.

When I do so, the guy at the table finally looks around.

Guy: “Oh, wow. Are you guys getting ready to close?”

I just laugh awkwardly and politely reply:

Me: “Sir, we closed thirty minutes ago.”

Guy: “Oh, s***! I’m so sorry! You should’ve kicked us out hours ago!”

They both scrambled up to leave and were out the door in ten seconds flat. I checked the receipt, and they had left me a 70% tip!

When I left at around 10:15 pm, I saw the couple standing in front of the restaurant, still so caught up in conversation. It was actually adorable, and I wasn’t even mad.