We are all familiar with the phrase, “This is a business, not a charity.” When many of us think of what it means to be a business owner, we tend to think that it takes a cutthroat personality that values profits over people to be successful. In fact, most folks would probably say that if employers could run their companies without people, they probably would. And while the public has become more cynical concerning the motivation of the folks responsible for creating jobs, there are those business owners out there who defy conventional thinking. Take this fictional story; for example, an employee is on the phone with his wife, letting her know that he doesn’t have enough money to buy their baby some formula. What the employee doesn’t know is that his boss had overheard his entire conversation.
Heart of gold.
I’ve worked all of 5 days for him, he hired me to be the GM of one of his small stores.. Bummed a smoke off him and went outside to call my wife. We were stressing because we have no savings after moving from Alaska to California, payday isn’t till the 25th, and my 6 month old daughter needed formula. Apparently he had come out to smoke with me and over heard the problem, I needed gas to get to work but she needed formula and we had money for neither.
Boss didn’t say anything, but later in the day he asked to borrow the truck I’m driving for a delivery since his wife had theirs. Told him I didn’t have any gas he said he’d put in what he used. When he brought the truck back there were 5 of the large containers of formula on the back seat, a full tank of gas, and $500 on the center console. He told me to consider it a hiring bonus and if it wasn’t enough just tell him and he’ll take care of it and that as long as I worked for him that offer stands.
First time working for a small privately owned company (only like 10 employees) and I absolutely am floored by this.
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