Did you do your best?

A few months ago, I was in a restaurant on another business trip in Texas and went out to eat for supper. When I sat down there was a napkin folded nicely around my silverware, neatly placed and ready for me. It's nice to walk into a restaurant and have it already set up for your meal, so I was impressed. 

I ordered my Coke Zero with lemon and lime (this is the only way to have it) and also ordered my meal. As I was eating, I realized that I needed some extra napkins (I'm a sloppy eater), so I asked the waiter for a couple more. This is where the story changes. The napkins that he brought we're the little drink napkins that you put under your Coke Zero with lemon and lime. Those napkins are just about useless! They generally fall apart when you use them and really aren't that good under your Coke Zero with lemon and lime.  This was not the first time this had happened to me at a restaurant. 

These are some thoughts that came to mind as I was looking at the useless napkins:

Are first impressions the only impressions we need to make, or does our character shine through even more effectively when we consistently have the same attitude of excellence? Are we, as people in life and in business, supposed to just do our best at first? Are we to focus on the initial impression so much that we forget about all the other details? Should we just fool people by the outward show, or should we have that true intrinsic desire to do our absolute best all the way through? 

Lessons learned: Think about how deep our principles run and how important the little things are along the way.

Thoughts: Do you give people a first napkin experience all the time? Why did i choose that picture?

#failalot