A small act of kindness goes a long way - Ein kleiner Akt der Güte
Second week started on a very positive note. And that is only partly because the group has changed.
Maybe I'll start with the new group since there's not that much to share yet. We're again very mixed and again predominantly women. Two from Germany (I don't count myself), one Swiss, one French, and a Japanese guy. You can already tell that some will leave soon because their level is not that high. That's what I love about ETI: very flexible and focused on the needs of students/trainees. You usually get one day in a group to figure out if you fit and feel comfortable. Meanwhile the trainer is also assessing you so as to decide whether you would be better off in a different level - higher or lower.
In general, so far, a very very nice group. Everyone is super interested and ambitious. And above all: everyone listens carefully to Peter without over-sharing anecdotes or interrupting...
The other positive thing I'd like to share is also kind of connected to the school and left me very impressed, if that's the right word.
Preface: The school consists of two schools, ETI for professionals and teachers, and ESE predominantly for students, and a cafeteria called 'The cakebox'. Ok, there are also rooms for the students upstairs, so sort of a hotel as well, but that's not really relevant.
Anyways, all the courses break approximately at the same time so the cafeteria gets very crowed very quickly. There are usually two people working behind the counter. Since I used to work at a restaurant I know how stressful breakfast and lunch time can be. You have to make food, serve customers, cash up and be polite and nice all at the same time.
I'm a passionate (and addicted I'd say) coffee drinker so my colleague and I've quickly made friends with the two cakebox employees, a girl named Elizabeth and a guy named Saro. We joke around, laugh together, make jokes at each other. Both of them are very very nice. Which is remarkable considering the stress and amount of work they have. You kind of take it for granted when people who work in service are nice and friendly - they should be, it's their job. But on the other hand, we're all human and we all have a bad day every once in a while, so nothing should be taken for granted.
End of last week, we had to say good-bye to Saro because he would be leaving for Ibiza on Saturday, leaving Elizabeth without a helper during the morning shift. My colleague came up with the brilliant idea to buy Elizabeth a flower on Monday. First of all, we're passing a flower cart every morning on our way to school and and the flower guy always greets us so nicely. And second of all, the queen (we started calling Elizabeth that) deserves a flower for always being so friendly and amiable. Consequently, we bought her a sunflower.
You should have seen her reaction when we gave her the flower first thing in the morning. She was so happy she cried. That morning she had come to work thinking that it would be a horrible day, all alone with lots and lots of stress and work. We had totally made her day.
Seeing her surprise and happiness was just priceless. Such a small gesture and such a big impact. Sometimes it can be so easy to make a person happy. It can be a flower. Or a simple thank you. I guess we do that too rarely in our everyday lives.
Maybe I'll start with the new group since there's not that much to share yet. We're again very mixed and again predominantly women. Two from Germany (I don't count myself), one Swiss, one French, and a Japanese guy. You can already tell that some will leave soon because their level is not that high. That's what I love about ETI: very flexible and focused on the needs of students/trainees. You usually get one day in a group to figure out if you fit and feel comfortable. Meanwhile the trainer is also assessing you so as to decide whether you would be better off in a different level - higher or lower.
In general, so far, a very very nice group. Everyone is super interested and ambitious. And above all: everyone listens carefully to Peter without over-sharing anecdotes or interrupting...
The other positive thing I'd like to share is also kind of connected to the school and left me very impressed, if that's the right word.
Preface: The school consists of two schools, ETI for professionals and teachers, and ESE predominantly for students, and a cafeteria called 'The cakebox'. Ok, there are also rooms for the students upstairs, so sort of a hotel as well, but that's not really relevant.
Anyways, all the courses break approximately at the same time so the cafeteria gets very crowed very quickly. There are usually two people working behind the counter. Since I used to work at a restaurant I know how stressful breakfast and lunch time can be. You have to make food, serve customers, cash up and be polite and nice all at the same time.
I'm a passionate (and addicted I'd say) coffee drinker so my colleague and I've quickly made friends with the two cakebox employees, a girl named Elizabeth and a guy named Saro. We joke around, laugh together, make jokes at each other. Both of them are very very nice. Which is remarkable considering the stress and amount of work they have. You kind of take it for granted when people who work in service are nice and friendly - they should be, it's their job. But on the other hand, we're all human and we all have a bad day every once in a while, so nothing should be taken for granted.
End of last week, we had to say good-bye to Saro because he would be leaving for Ibiza on Saturday, leaving Elizabeth without a helper during the morning shift. My colleague came up with the brilliant idea to buy Elizabeth a flower on Monday. First of all, we're passing a flower cart every morning on our way to school and and the flower guy always greets us so nicely. And second of all, the queen (we started calling Elizabeth that) deserves a flower for always being so friendly and amiable. Consequently, we bought her a sunflower.
You should have seen her reaction when we gave her the flower first thing in the morning. She was so happy she cried. That morning she had come to work thinking that it would be a horrible day, all alone with lots and lots of stress and work. We had totally made her day.
Seeing her surprise and happiness was just priceless. Such a small gesture and such a big impact. Sometimes it can be so easy to make a person happy. It can be a flower. Or a simple thank you. I guess we do that too rarely in our everyday lives.
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Deutscher Text folgt in Kürze.
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