Message from our Board Chair

Hello Friends in Travel—

For those of you that don’t know, I am from Minnesota, and was born and raised here. There is a coined phrase associated with Minnesotans that you are probably familiar with –

“Minnesota Nice”. We have a propensity to smile, wave and say “hi” to anyone who crosses our path, and have a tendency to be very polite in all situations, regardless of how we really feel. This is, of course, a gross generality and not EVERYONE is like this, but if you’ve ever spent any time in Minnesota, you know what I am talking about.

Kindness, defined by Miriam-Webster, is “the quality or state of being gentle and considerate.” This past weekend, I had to go in with my family to switch phone carriers and get a new phone. We knew that it was going to take some time and we were prepared for it, however it ended up taking over 4 hours. Now, at the end of about hour 3, I was starting to get uncomfortable. There were no chairs available in the store so we literally stood there. Waiting to get my new phone to work through no fault of the employees, it was a technical issue out of their hands. Dumb luck. I let my family go to run errands while I waited, and I heard another customer make a comment like, “this is getting a little ridiculous” referring to the amount of time we had spent there. Ok yes, it was too much time to spend but it was no one’s fault. Even though I was SO DONE, I decided not to make any negative comments while there, because "why?". Was it going to make things go faster? No. Was it going to make the situation better? No. And in all honesty, it wasn’t going to make me feel better and it would have set the tone for the rest of my day. I would have ridden on that negativity train and likely would have taken it out on my family. Instead, I thanked the gentlemen for their assistance, told them I knew they were doing everything they could and that I appreciated it.

So, what’s my point, you may be wondering? Because staffing is an issue for many employers in the service industry, and as they hire new employees there are going to be some pain points as these new employees are trained. A little patience and kindness can go a long way. As group leaders, we set the tone for our group. Keep your cool and others will follow suit. Go for it - be “Minnesota Nice.” 😊

Allison