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12 April 2007

Joyous service

WRITING ABOUT service, Shoghí Effendi (1897-1957), Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith, has stated that “the essential is for you to persevere, and not to allow any consciousness of your limitations to dampen your zeal, much less to deter you from serving joyously and actively.”

These words came to my mind when I watched the video Johnny the Bagger: A True Story of Customer Service. Johnny the BaggerProduced by human resource consultant Barbara Glanz, the film features the true story of “Johnny”, a young supermarket bagger with Down Syndrome whose determination to provide service from the heart changed the culture of an entire retailing organization and the people they vowed to serve.

View a clip of this film on The Simple Truths of Service: Inspired by Johnny the Bagger.

4 INTERACTIONS:

Anonymous said...

Thank you Mr. Ancheta, the clip brought tears to my eyes, hope i get a chance to see the actual film. grazie mille!

Paul Ancheta said...

De nada. Soy muy guapo.

Anonymous said...

Yes, it is very inspiring and I wish it were really true but it is not. I think that Barbara Glanz has fabricated the story to sell her training videos (which go for $1000!)

Barbara claims that the family does not want their identities revealed. So Johnny's family doesn't want to get the attention yet he's caused a whirlwind of reaction in the store he works at. His checkout line wraps around the frozen food isle while all other lines are empty, and his family doesn't want any attention. Yet Johnny calls Barbara up to tell her all about it. Yes, this all fits with a family that doesn't want to draw any attention.

If this were a true story and he really did cause such a change in the store, someone, somewhere in that town would have mentioned it independently or connected Barbara's story with their grocery store. Someone in the town would have said, "Hey, that's about us". It probably would have been on the local news.

Aside from Barbara's word, this story is non existence. Johnny's family has done such a great job of keeping their identity a secret that nobody else has ever independently mentioned the miraculous story of how a grocery store bagger
with Down syndrome transformed an entire store.

It sure is lucky that Barbara has the exclusive on this story. You wouldn't want the family telling their story on their own. That would really put a dent in her over priced video training series gravy train.

Anonymous said...

I was sent the video from a friend and tried to find more info about Johnny, how he’s doing, where he works, etc.. I find it hard to believe that NO ONE WANTS THE PUBLICITY associated with this story. I find it harder to believe that the store that Johnny works at doesn’t want anyone to know who they are. If they’re so proud of his efforts, why not use that in their advertising to promote their store? If his parents truly are proud of him, why would they want to shield his identity? Isn’t that sending him a mixed message? “Yes, Johnny. Do something good, just don’t let anyone find out who you are….”

Certainly Oprah would have heard of Johnny by now and would have done a story about him. This sort of thing is right up her alley. Certainly someone somewhere would have reported that they shop at this store and have met Johnny. If someone in my town inspired me in that way, I would definitely suggest the local media do a story about them or nominate them for a citizenship award or something such as that.

The video would have been considerably more inspirational had they used interviews of the people involved rather than the way it is presented. It’s a great story, but it’s just that. A STORY. Not unlike all those “inspirational” e-mails we get every day that claim to be true, yet are proven to be false. I feel sorry for everyone who buys into this scam ( literally and figuratively ). Shame on the spinners of this tale who are cashing in on those who want so desperately to believe.

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