A Gift of Honey

[Grant]

Indulge me for a minute and allow me to share how powerful a small gift of honey was for my family, and the recipient.

We just concluded our third Disney cruise of the western carribean. Each of our kids wanted a family cruise in lieu of a graduation party. I can go on about why we like Disney, but that's a topic for another forum. Our third and last child is graduating this spring and January was a good time for the older siblings and so we went this past week of January 7 - 14.

The previous cruise we took was three years ago. If you take cruises, you know the biggest deal is the horrendous gratuities they expect at the end of the cruise. My wife likes to make little gift baskets of Missouri products, including my honey and homemade soap to go along with my cash. 99% of the servers are foreign.

On this last cruise, one of the help on board the ship, a young man from the Phillipines, came up to me and said, "Paradon me sir, but aren't you in the business of honey?"

I was astounded, as were my kids. My family is used to people cornering me in Wal-Mart and various resturants to ask me about honey or how the bees are doing. As a pastor, they take bets on how many people recognize me...and how many I feel obligated to talk to. But here was a guy who has seen thousands of cruise people, and I'm sure all of the tens of thousands of people he serves tend to all look alike. At least they would for me. But that jar of honey made a great impression on this young man, an impression that allowed him to remember me from three years ago.

We got reintroduced and he shared how special the honey was, so special that he kept the empty bottle on a shelf to remind him each day of how special the gift was. And if I were running a credit card commercial, I might offer:

Disney Family Cruise - $5,000
One bottle of honey - $5
Creating a memory - priceless

Grant
Jackson, MO

[sqkcrk]

Very nice Grant, very nice.

[ycitybz]

I believe they call that "Paying it Forward". Nice story, it shows you dont always have to make a profit with honey products. A little kindness goes a long way..

[paintingpreacher]

That is amazing. Thanks for sharing.

[wheeler88]

Great to hear some good, thanks for sharing.............

[Michael Palmer]

Nice story Grant. Thanks.

[indypartridge]

Nice story, thanks for posting.

You're absolutely right about the impact of something as simple as a bottle of honey. I get "preferred service" at the auto repair shop because the guy in charge knows I'll bring him a bottle of honey. On several occasions he's given me a loaner car free when he usually charges a rental fee.

An 8 oz. honey bear will open doors, have people remember you, and bring outstanding service.