When you start something new, something you’ve never done, you will not be the best at it. You probably won’t even be very good. You will make mistakes, stumble, and likely fail a time or two. But with practice and patience comes the ability to learn, improve and master this new skill set.

Hello, I’m Dominic and I’m new here at ETE REMAN and for the past two weeks I’ve spent more time learning how to succeed in my new role. After experiencing this high level of onboarding, inclusion, and information sharing, there’s simply no other way it should be done. Every person I’ve met and every interaction I’ve had has given me something new to learn. From homing in and getting tips on how to look up a part and process an order to learning how my actions impact the company and customer, I am repeatedly in awe. These people actually care, and I must say, it is very cool to be part of an organization where its people care about each other, the team’s success and their commitment to the customer.

In today’s world, with negativity, complaints, and the bombardment of information we get overwhelmed, almost numb to our surroundings. It has become too easy to stop caring, to become more inward and stop being outwardly charitable. It’s easier to close the app, swipe away the reel, bury our head in the sand than to invest time, energy and emotion into something or someone you don’t know. As we sink deeper into Gulf of Indifference that surrounds the Land of Instant Gratification, the expectation amongst the general population is that people just don’t care.

Now I could go at length why I believe this has become reality but truthfully, I don’t think the explanation is required to discuss the resolution. Everyone who I work with cares, they care about what they are doing, and you can not only see, but feel, the results of that mentality. Taking the time to care can be difficult, it can feel taxing, as if you are being asked to be invested in something that doesn’t have any real bearing on you. However, I promise, when you go the extra mile and make sure that the individual you are helping is leaving the interaction with a new piece of information that gets them closer to whatever resolution they are seeking; that is important. Many times, over these past two weeks I’ve sat and watched my coworkers sit on a call with a customer for much longer than I think either person on the phone could have anticipated and throughout the entire time I watched them help as much as they could. That type of dedication is inspiring. This is the sort of domino effect I hope outwardly caring can have because as I watched them put in the extra work; to do more than maybe is asked, it made me want to also be that good and to also put in that much effort. I fundamentally believe that if you do good, good will come around. The only way to learn if a hypothesis is true is to test it.

I’m not going to make some larger-than-life claim that by caring with your whole heart on everything that you do, we will somehow magically fix the world, but I think it will do two things. For starters, I think it’ll make YOU feel good! It feels good to help, it feels good to be of service and know that whatever work you did had a positive and tangible impact on the world around you regardless of how small it may seem. Secondly, I think it’ll be inspiring for those around you. People always remember kindness, they remember when someone helped them, they remember when someone put in the work to solve a problem that wasn’t even their own, but they do it anyway because they want to. Those around you, who see you doing good, who see you caring, without a shadow of doubt in my mind I believe that type of behavior will bleed into those around you whether they know it or not and and in turn they will try to be of help to the best of their ability. Positivity, caring, and commitment is truly contagious.

I have been infected with the ETE-Way, and my newfound goal is that I will spread the inspiration to others every chance I get.

Challenge accepted.