In his book, Its Not My Department, motivational speaker Peter Glen illustrates the value of learning to serve. He tells the story of a man named John Barrier, who went in to cash a $25 check at the U. S. Bank of Washington in Spokane. In his Ace Concrete Company baseball cap and dungarees, Barrier looked like an ordinary customer.

As he left the bank, he tried to drive his pickup truck out of the parking lot. The young man at the parking booth, however, told Barrier to cough up 60 cents, or he’d have to go back into the bank and get his parking ticket validated – proving he had done business at the bank.

Annoyed, Barrier backed up, parked his truck and went back into the bank to have the teller stamp his ticket. He couldn’t find the original teller, and the one he did find refused to validate it. She thought he was a dead beat.

This time, Barrier was really ticked off. “Give me the $ 1 million I keep here!” he snorted. “I’m taking it next door.”

Alarmed, the teller called a supervisor, who whispered to her that her customer was a multimillionaire real-estate developer. The bank apologized and quickly stamped his parking ticket – but it was too late. Barrier withdrew his money and took it to the new bank down the street. Because of its unserving nature, the bank was out $1,000,000.60.

What does that story say to you?

Tags: money, service