It was Thursday afternoon, and Dexter was still headed home from Nevada. It was his intention to arrive at the apartment, early on Friday morning. Eric was covering the website, so Dexter didn't have any worries, there.
Ed Daimler had asked him to find three engineers to infiltrate Daimler Plastics, to find out what was really going on in the company. Somehow, the old man had managed to find a lawyer to draw up an agreement during dinner time. It was a rather lucrative contract. At one time, Dexter would have been overjoyed to make that kind of money. Now, he was worried about being able to deliver.
Thinking about it, he decided that he would send in John Coleridge as a licensing consolidation expert. John had left the old company after all of the turmoil of Dexter's firing. Now the poor man was unemployed, but a lot a happier. Dexter figured that a little time spent working at Daimler Plastics would give John a renewed sense of purpose.
After being on the road without break for four hours, Dexter pulled off the highway. The car was getting low on gasoline, so he figured it was a good time to fill up. He would also welcome a short walk to stretch his muscles. He spotted a typical self-service gas station located right at the exit from the highway.
He stopped upon entering the driveway into the gas station. It had six rows of pumps and a convenience store. There was a line of cars at one set of pumps, and two empty rows. He examined the empty rows thinking that they must be closed. There weren't any red cones or signs to that effect. It was still odd that there was a long line at the one row of pumps, and almost no cars at the others.
He drove by the line of cars and spotted a sign. Reading it aloud, he said, "Independent Full Service Gas At Self Service Prices. Tips Appreciated."
"What the hell?" Dexter asked.
He looked over at the service aisles. Two young men wearing beige pants, white shirts, and plain beige caps were running around taking care of the cars getting gas. Curious, Dexter pulled into the line of cars.
He watched, incredulous, while the two young men gave what he considered to be full service treatment to every customer. They greeted the driver, and touching the brim of their caps in salute.
One of the young men appeared to be in charge of dispensing gasoline. He would take the credit card from the driver, and swipe it through the reader. Then he would start to fill the car. While it was filling, he would return the card to the driver before going over to another car to check the pump. He kept moving all of the time.
The other young man went from car to car washing the windows. He even checked the air pressure on the tires. He had a pressurized air tank that he would use to add some air to a tire that was a little low. About half of the drivers had him check the oil.
When it was Dexter's turn, the young man who pumped gas directed him to drive around the car at the first pump of the row. As soon as Dexter had parked, the young man came over, touched the brim of his cap.
"What can we do for you today, Sir?" he asked.
"I guess fill it with regular, and check the oil," Dexter answered.
He handed his credit card over to the young man.
"If you'll open the door to the gas tank, and release the hood, we'll get right to it," the young man said.
Dexter did as directed and watched the young man go to work. The other young man came over and checked the oil. The young man closed the hood of the car. He came around to Dexter's window.
"Your oil is a quarter of a quart low, Sir, but you might consider getting it changed soon. Your wiper fluid levels are pretty good."
"Thank you," Dexter said.
The young man started washing the front window. It was clear to Dexter that the young man had had plenty of practice washing car windows. He was rather surprised when the young man washed the rear window as well.
The young man checked the pressure in the tires. He added a little air to one of them. Dexter hadn't realized that one of his tires had been low. He wondered if the air tank belonged to the service station or to the boys.
The first young man returned to his window and said, "Here's your credit card and receipt, Sir."
"Thank you," Dexter said and held out a ten dollar bill.
The young man took the ten and then returned a five and five ones. Dexter said, "What's this?"
"You didn't mean to give me a ten dollar tip on a fifty dollar fill-up," the young man said.
"Yes, I did," Dexter said handing the money back to the young man.
"Really?" the young man said taking the money.
"Really."
"Thank you, Sir. Have a nice day," the young man said with a big smile.
"I will," Dexter said.
He started the car, and drove over to a parking space in front of the gas station's convenience store.
Inside the store, Dexter grabbed a soda and a bag of popcorn. The popcorn wasn't freshly popped but came inside a plastic bag like potato chips. He would have preferred fresh, but this made a good snack while driving.
While standing in line, Dexter listened to the conversations taking place around him. It appeared that the two boys, and two of their friends, had come up with this idea of providing full service, for tips only. After getting permission from the owner of the gas station, they had set up a row of full service. A lot of people appreciated it, and tipped them well. They were making more money than if they had a regular part-time job.
Dexter was impressed on many levels.
First, the boys had exhibited significant creativity and motivation in coming up with, and pursing, the idea. Second, the owner of the place had recognized a good deal and let the boys do it. Third, the customers had responded in a positive manner.
This convinced Dexter that the world was ready for real service, again.
That night, after getting ready for bed, Dexter wrote an article about the independent full service aisle at the gas station. It was a long article in which he put forth the idea of service hands for hire. He said that there were lots of areas in which a little service would go a long way. People didn't have to be directly employed by a company. All that was required was for customers to tip them for the service.
As far as Dexter could tell, the two young men were probably earning over twenty dollars an hour. He felt that was a perfectly good wage for a young man or woman still in high school or college. He added that there were many people working full time who didn't make that much money.
He went on to write about how many people had lined up to pay extra for just a little service. In a way, it was amazing to him the people would be willing to spend a little to get a little service.
It suggested that there was a hunger there for true service. Although the wait to get gasoline had been a little longer than he had expected; the fact was, that he would have waited longer. He never would have checked his oil or the pressure in his tires.
He made a couple of points about how the boys had treated customers. Touching the brim of their caps was just part of showing a little respect. He mentioned how they had called him 'Sir'. Sure they were minor acts of politeness, but they added a lot to the experience. Rather than feeling like a number, he had felt like a person.
He also mentioned the bit about giving change on the ten dollar bill. The young man had turned the single bill into a five and five ones. That freed Dexter to give any size tip from a dollar to ten dollars. The kid could have given him two fives expecting to get one of them as a tip, but he didn't. The young man had given Dexter choices. Dexter's choice had been to make it a ten dollar tip, which was basically twenty percent.
Good service wasn't just about doing something for someone else. It was about the little things that changed a mundane event, into something special. Dexter's visit to the gas station had been made special.
That special feeling had continued on into the convenience store. People were talking to each other. It was if taking that little break had opened people to being a little nicer to everyone else around them. Dexter speculated that perhaps the two young men had set a standard of interaction that lasted beyond the purchase of gasoline. He posted the article, and went to sleep in the standard hotel bed.
He didn't think about the consequences of his article. His thoughts were on getting home the next day, and taking care of the business that Ed Daimler had given him. He'd have Eric find some of the folks from the old company, and make them an offer of temporary employment. For those who were unemployed, it would be very welcome money. They'd receive a paycheck from Dexter, and one from Daimler Plastics.
The next morning, Dexter was eating breakfast when his cell phone went off.
He checked the caller id and then answered, "Hello, Eric. What's up?"
"What did you do?" Eric asked.
"What are you talking about?" Dexter asked.
"The website is going crazy," Eric answered.
Dexter said, "I don't understand why it would be doing that? I just posted an article last night, before going to bed."
"Well, the web server crashed this morning," Eric said.
"That's weird," Dexter said.
"I'll see what's happening," Eric said.
"I'll be there around noon," Dexter said. "We've got a lot of business to discuss."
"It'll have to wait until after we get the website back up," Eric said.
Dexter said, "You take care of things. I'll be there around noon."
"Okay," Eric said before hanging up.
Although he was curious about what had happened, Dexter finished his breakfast. He still had to check out of the hotel.
He was waiting for the waiter to come by with his check, when his cell phone rang again. He checked the caller id and saw that Eric was calling him back.
"Dexter! You dog!"
"What?" Dexter asked.
Eric laughed. He said, "I think every unemployed person over the age of sixteen, and under seventy, has visited our website between six this morning and now."
"Why on earth?" Dexter asked.
"Your little article may have just found employment for a million people," Eric said.
"What?" Dexter asked in shock.
He was trying to imagine what he might have done and couldn't think of anything. The article wasn't that big of a deal, as far as he was concerned.
Eric said, "Your article told people how they could go out and earn real money; cold hard cash, with no bosses hanging on their ass. You're brilliant!"
"I'm not brilliant," Dexter said. "It wasn't my idea. I just described what happened when I stopped at a gas station yesterday."
"I'll bet you a hundred dollars, that that gas station is on the national news, tonight," Eric said.
"I'd never take that bet," Dexter said.
Eric said, "My son just called me from school. He said that every kid he knows is trying to get to the website. I don't think there is going to be a self service gas station left in this country, by the weekend."
"That would be amazing," Dexter said.
"Our service provider turned on the backup system. Everything is working smoothly again," Eric said.
"That's good," Dexter said.
"I don't know how you do it. You just keep coming up with things that people want to read," Eric said.
Dexter said, "Luck."
Eric burst out laughing.
"It's not that funny," Dexter said.
Eric asked, "Do you know that we got an e-mail from a house painter who said that he was going to hang around the hardware store on the weekends advertising his services as a shopping assistant?"
"Shopping assistant?" Dexter asked.
Eric said, "Yes. He was going to advertise that he would help shoppers pick out the right material for their painting needs based on his twelve years of experience as a painter."
"Next thing you know, he'll be offering his services as a painting instructor," Dexter said.
Eric burst out laughing again.
"It's not that funny," Dexter protested.
"You just keep doing it, don't you?"
"What?" Dexter asked.
Eric said, "I'm putting that idea on the website right now."
"What idea?" Dexter asked.
Eric answered, "In-home home-repair lessons. People are going to eat it up. Rather than paying some professional a thousand dollars to paint a house, you have a professional painter teach you how to do it the right way, for a small fee."
"But..."
"I'll talk to you when you get here," Eric said.
"But..."
By the time Dexter had recovered enough to say something, Eric was long gone. Dexter looked at his cell phone in shock. He hadn't really meant for whatever was happening, to happen. All he had done was describe his experience the previous day. He wondered if there were going to be any negative repercussions. He hadn't thought to put any warnings on the article.
Looking around for the waiter, he muttered, "I wonder what is going to happen next."
Edited By TeNderLoin