Neighbors Make Your Community a Great Place to Live and Do Business


Do you realize the impact your daily attitude can have on people? Especially in business, a “hi, how is your day” attitude with a smile can go a long way.

Thursday, Aug. 23 was a day like that for me. I have many things in my life to be happy about, but there are also stresses. Sometimes stress can get the better of you and drag your attitude down. So I’ll admit, despite beautiful weather and an early morning walk with my dog Otis in the crisp cool air, my attitude was not the best when I started out.

But, four people in Republic with great customer focused attitudes helped to brighten my gray day.

I had an issue with my car the night before. Since I thought it was my battery, I went to O’Reilly Automotive in Republic. Johnny offered to come out and test my car batter – despite the rain that had just begun. He offered an evaluation and some good advice. I love buying local, but I like it even more when the person making the sale says, “this may not be the best idea.”

So, I took his advice, and headed down the road to Republic Ford where Joe met me in the service area. I do not know how he does it, but Joe remembers names, and he always seems to be in a good mood. He worked my car in, and Ford discovered the problem and made the correct fix to get me running again. I nearly felt like they had uncharged me because of Joe’s friendliness at the front end of that visit.

Then off to Lowes I went to make a semi-emergency purchase. I seldom go to Lowes without my dog Otis. When he is with me we always head to Elaine’s checkout register (where she keeps a few dog treats). On this day my dog was not with me and Elaine remembered that but still treated me like the most important customer in the building. See, I always thought it was just my dog!

By this time I was hungry and the noon food rush was on. I skipped the drive-thru and walked inside Wendy’s for carry out. Why did I go in? Because of Anderson. He works the counter during the noon hour a lot. He may be the friendliest fast-food employee I have ever met. There is no way you can have a bad day with Anderson greeting you and putting your order together.

I doubt these four people get thanked very often for their work. People are quick to judge and slow to say thank you. But if you want to make your community a better place to live, follow their example. Be positive and kind to people, offer assistance when possible, and treat people they way you want to be treated.

And thank you to Johnny, Joe, Elaine and Anderson for helping make Republic a great place to live and a great place to do business.

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