I worked at Chick-fil-A for two and a half years and it was certainly a time for me to learn about serving others and living life with a constant focus on growth. Here’s the first of many posts about what I learned during my time there.

If you’ve ever been to Chick-fil-A you’ve probably noticed the high level of kindness expressed by the team members. When I worked there, I would get several comments each shift about how great and refreshing it was for customers to be greeted with a smile and treated as the most important person in the joint. The best part for them was the fact that it wasn’t a one-time occurrence, it happened every time.

I’m a happy, go-getter type of person and Chick-fil-A was an easy place to be happy. When you take a lot of happy people and put them in a room, it almost becomes a competition for who can spread the most joy. The cashiers have a focus on making each guest feel special, because each interaction is unique.

I remember when I started working there that I was given a short overview of the ordering system and then told to begin taking orders. I loved being on the front counter and helping guests place their orders. Creating those connections provided me with the opportunity to have a lasting impact on the guest and helped to ensure they would return.

If you’ve ever seen Jim Gaffigan’s stand-up routines, you know he’s passionate about food. In one of his shows from 2005 he mentions the awkward situation involved in ordering food. You step up to the register and even though you know exactly what to do, you often get a little flustered. I saw people who had no emotion when ordering and others who could hardly say three words before getting distracted or distressed. If the cashier goes too fast, we become overwhelmed and walk away frustrated. If the cashier is too slow, we get annoyed and walk away frustrated. There’s a happy medium to be found, but the hard part is that each customer has a different take on how you should take their order.

The best tip I ever received was from my favorite manager: “Just smile, be kind, let them set the pace of the order, and support their decisions or suggest something else.”

I was thankful for my managers because they saw my potential and helped me refine my interactions. They showed me the shortcuts to make the ordering process smoother and helped me learn more about the passion behind Chick-fil-A’s method for interacting with customers.

One of the coolest things I learn more about and saw practiced what the idea of “2^nd Mile Service.” The idea stems from a story in the Bible where Jesus tells His followers to “go the extra mile” when carrying a soldier’s gear (see Matthew 5:41). Jesus is referring to a Roman practice called “impressment” where members of the army could force a Jewish native to carry their items for a Roman mile. It was a hard task, so the idea of going a second mile was not an easy one to accomplish physically.

Chick-fil-A embraced this idea of going above and beyond because that is what would bring customers back. From having an extremely nice dining room to having someone walk around to the tables to see if any needs a refill. These all come from the idea that the only way to make the experience amazing is to make it stand out from the rest of the restaurants. We all know they kick-butt in this department.

This idea of service is one we can apply to every aspect of our lives. Jesus shows us that this isn’t just a good thing to do; going the second mile is the right thing to do. As we live our daily lives and embrace new opportunities or challenges, we get to choose if we will go above and beyond or if we’ll go with the minimum. In our relationships with others, we have the greatest impact when we are willing to invest the most.

There were days that second mile service seemed like too much work. Yes, there were days when it wasn’t “my pleasure” to serve, but those days were rare. There were days when I didn’t want to serve a certain guest because they were too needy or I didn’t want to clean the restrooms because I had been doing it all day.

But life isn’t about only doing what is easy. It’s doing what is right, no matter how much work it might take.

If we all focused on supporting others and “going the extra mile,” I have a feeling that our friendships and communities would become places where hope is shared and people are filled with joy. The problem is, we have sin in our lives. We’re not perfect and our imperfection often keeps us from investing in others the way we should.

Chick-fil-A showed me I need to always go the second mile.