Written by Madison Collins, Pacific Workplaces Oakland Community Coordinator
Our Coworking Stories Blog Series is in celebration of the amazing people behind our workplace communities. The stories shared are by community managers and team members at Pacific Workplaces.
“Have a nice day!” A phrase we say just about every day whether it be to your local barista on a morning coffee run or to a neighbor while out walking the dog. Such a small jumble of words seem to come so natural that they form a routine whenever passing someone by. But when was the last time you truly thought to yourself, “I really hope that person has a great day,” or genuinely think about how their day has been so far?
This realization happened for me while on the job at Pacific Workplaces in the beautiful city of Oakland, California. The day was running smoothly as usual. Members burying themselves in the hustle and bustle of the work week. While glancing at some emails, a woman approached me while I was at the front desk. She seemed distraught as she sniffled and grabbed a few tissues before checking in. I offered her coffee, but she declined asking if she could grab a few more tissues instead. I announced her arrival and pointed her in the right direction of her appointment. She was able to collect herself a bit before her meeting began, which put me more at ease as I carried on with another task.
The big impact of a small interaction
A bit of time passed and I saw her again post-meeting. As she approached me on her way out, I could see a few tears begin to stream down her face. I could not help but wonder what was going on that was still making her so upset? Just as I was about to reach for extra tissues for her to take, she turned to me and said, “Thank you, you guys do great work.” I was shocked. My original thought was that she had receievd some horrible news, but her gracious comment made me realize they were tears of joy the entire time. With a sigh of relief I assured her that she had the doctors to thank (referring to the doctors from the Disability Counseling Service who are members at our location and utilize our office space and meeting rooms services). “The ones in the white coats are to thank, I’m just here to support and make sure everyone gets to where they need to go,” I told her. She nodded in agreement as she took one last tissue and headed to the elevator.
I couldn’t help but get a little teary-eyed as she walked away. It was such a pure moment filled with gratitude. Before she boarded the elevator and thanked me a final time, I smiled and said, “I hope you have a nice day!” That moment would be the first time in quite a long time that I really hoped that whatever she had planned for the rest of the day, that it was great.
Moments like this are the reason why I love being able to work with so many different individuals every single day. A community coordinator has lots of different tasks but you never realize how a small interaction can have a complete ripple effect on someone’s entire day. I’m willing to admit that I get lost within the routine hellos, goodbyes, and thank you’s that happen daily. But this experience has definitely opened my eyes and made me realize that every person who walks past my desk has a story along with a million different things running through their own head. They may not need that extra five minute conversation, but when you’re willing to put in those extra moments, it makes that much of a difference, and that difference is felt on a mutual level. I benefit from these moments just as much as they do.
About Pacific Workplaces
Pacific Workplaces offers flexible offices and coworking places, with a wide range of part-time and full-time furnished office spaces including virtual offices, private offices, open coworking memberships, and minisuites, in a shared infrastructure environment, with curated communities that maximize networking opportunities and serendipity. Members have access to meeting rooms, coworking areas, business lounges, VoIP telephony, phone answering services, IT support, admin support, an online legal library, and preferential access to a network of nearly 1,000 touchdown locations worldwide, under a pay-per-need hosted model PAC refers to as Workplace-as-a-Service. Find a location and join one of our workplace communities.