Austin Simms is a coffee shop owner from Roanoke, Virginia who is giving people a gentle nudge in how we all should be treating each other. He has posted his prices according to their polite conduct, and it’s making headlines all over the world. The sign outside his coffee shop reads the following price list. “One small coffee” $5.00 is the cost “One small coffee please” the cost is $3.00, or the cheapest option being given to the most polite person is “Hello, I’d like one small coffee please” $1.75. What he has done is actually quite smart, as nothing gets a person’s attention quite like when they are footing the bill for their behavior. Consequences are a great teacher and there’s consequences for everything we do in life. If you think about it this idea is a great teaching tool for kids, because it clearly shows how we should be treating each other in a dignified way.
When a person is working behind a counter at times they can feel like they are at the mercy of the customer’s mood. Employees are to be nice to the customer even if the customer is not nice to them. The employee is to be the better person no matter what, and that isn’t easy sometimes. The fact that Austin has felt it necessary to post these prices speaks volumes. What Austin has done in a fun way is remind people to be polite, and kind to your fellow human beings. Treat others the way you would like to be treated, it’s really that simple.
