Don

Yesterday, I had a new garage door opener installed. A guy named Don from Consolidated Garage Doors came out to do the install. When he arrived he saw the garage door opener I had picked up on Amazon and said, “Hey that is a beautiful garage door opener you bought there, but unfortunately it’s for 7-foot garage doors, and yours is 8 foot. If you have the extender we can use it, otherwise, I’ll have to get you one and come back on another day.” 

He can tell I was bummed as I wanted to get this done and mark it off my list. “Or if you don’t mind returning that one, I have one in the truck that will fit. It’s the model down from the one you have there but it’s a GREAT opener and I know you’re really going to love it.”  

“That’s fine,” I said, not buying the enthusiasm and just trying to hurry through the conversation so I could get back to my next Zoom. 

“OK great, GREAT! I’m going to start the install now, it should only take about an hour and when I’m done, I’ll come get you so you can come take a look at it. Sound good?”

“OK, thanks,” I said and walked back into the house. 

Don started whistling and beginning his work. An hour later he rang the doorbell.  

“I’ve got something to show you!” He said with a big smile on his face. We walked over to the garage together. 

“OK J, I’ve got the opener installed, I greased up and tightened all your railings. I’ve got new sensors installed and lined them up perfectly at the bottom so we know the kids will be safe. Now watch this.” He proceeded to close the garage door. We both stared at the door in silence.

“Just listen”, he said, “notice something?” 

“Yes,” I said, “It’s much quieter than the old one.”

“FANTASTIC isn’t it?!? UNBELIEVABLE how much quieter these new systems are. Now let’s set a code. I’m going to climb up the ladder and hit the learn button here and you go type in a code on that keypad over on the wall outside the garage. Don’t worry I won’t look!” He said with a smile. 

I typed in the code and the garage began to open again. 

“Now J, you’ve got A LOT of options here. You can open this garage with the button on the wall over there, which now has an upgraded panel that gives you the time AND the temperature. You can use the keypad you just programmed. You remember the code? Good. AND, get this, you can use your phone. Just download the app and you can open this garage from anywhere. ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD! Isn’t that amazing!”

I looked over at Don trying to understand if this was an act or if he really was this excited about garage door openers.

“It is amazing,” I said. “It really is.”

Don had a huge smile on his face as he gathered up his tools and began putting everything back in his truck.  

“Don,” I said, “you did a great job installing this, thank you very much.”

“Are you kidding? It was my pleasure. I LOVE THIS STUFF.”  

Don whistled as he got back into his truck and drove away. I sat there, dumbfounded. I mean, Don was probably one of the happiest guys I had met in a long time. And that was probably one of the best customer experiences I’ve ever had.  

I’m not sure what Don is like every day, but I can tell you that yesterday, he had made a clear decision that he was going to love his job. He let himself be amazed by what he was doing. He threw himself completely into his work. He celebrated what he was tasked to build and genuinely appreciated the opportunity to work and provide a meaningful contribution to the world, even if it just touched a handful of us Schwans. 

I sat there and opened and closed the garage door a couple times. It really was amazing. Not just the garage door opener, I mean, it was a vast improvement over our old temperamental one, but Don. Don was amazing. As the world around us is getting shaken to its core, here was a man that was fully present, appreciative, and passionate about the job to be done. The job that only he could do at that very moment. 

I’m not sure if I’ll ever see Don again, but I’d like to think that I’ll think of him every time I open that garage door and remember that life is beautiful, the world is amazing and its a gift to be able to contribute to it.