Fabulous to Great – What’s in a name?

Since I have been going to the Pro Club gym here in Redmond, I’ve seen a guy working the locker room who just seems perpetually happy. Yesterday, after I finished running 3 miles and doing a pretty good upper body workout, I heard and saw him talking to another guy in the shower area. The conversation went like this:

Gym-goer: “So, today you are great? Is that better than fabulous?”
Locker room attendant: “Yes sir, every day is a great day!”
GG: “How is that?”
LRA: “Every day I wake up happy to be alive!”

OK then. And LRA, (to be named soon) is also wearing these huge goggles that one might find if you were cleaning out a meat locker and was afraid of what might get into your eyes …

Fast forward one day to today.

I got to the gym at lunch. Run another three miles, feeling pretty good. After I finished showering and getting dressed, I hear LRA telling a number of guys as they are leaving, “Jack, have a nice day!”. “Joe, see you later!”. “John, take it easy!”.

Now I decide I want in on this.

I ask LRA what his name is. “Ian”, he says. I tell him mine.

“Ian”, I say, “How do you know everyone’s name?”

Ian says, “I just do. I put together a face with a name”.

I figure out that Ian is special needs, whatever that means in this PC world we live in. He might be mildly autistic but he definitely has some special skills. I can hardly remember people’s names that work for me when I have to go around our all-staff meeting (but I do). And he knows probably everyone who has ever introduced himself.

And I walk out into brilliant Northwest autumn sunshine, feeling pretty light on my feet, eating my healthy sandwich and thinking, “How can it be that this guy is so seemingly happy and energized and unworried, when all I can think about is the 20 things I need to get done when I get back into the office?”.

But before I walk out, I say, “Ian, see you later.”. He says, “Mitch, I will. Have a great day!”.

And I do.

Thanks Ian for making my day a little happier and knowing you’ll remember my name tomorrow.