O'Mara's Chain Miracle (1951)

[Music] you this is our neighborhood in spite of the way it looks it isn't like any other place anywhere you notice the difference the minute you see the people yes the people around here are friendly our merchants are strong and courtesy and that extra bit of service and they keep their promises to like when Jake Thomas tells you a suit will be ready at five o'clock it will be ready at five o'clock anywhere you look you'll find that extra bit of thoughtfulness that means so much out where we live people seem to be friendlier more courteous more helpful of course it wasn't always this way but it all started right here on this corner not so long ago officer Omar was a short tempered man he gives you the whistle or the rough side of his tongue as quick as luggage then one morning young Harry Carter who operates the gas station at the corner of main and third came up to a Mara's intersection and his mind was entirely on his driving when homarus dr. Woods we can realize that he had stopped in the crosswalk so he just SAT there waiting for Amara to explode ah but this morning omorrow didn't explode he got a very odd look on his face and then he waved Henry ahead well right then and there was the first link in the chain miracles started by Omar the miracle that made our town different young Henry kept Mullins instant away in his mind and he had quite an effect on him he decided that if a gruff guy like Omar could be human he Henry Carter could give it a little extra try with his customers he started by making Fred Marie how haberdasher think it was a favor to let Henry put air in his tires yes sir what can I do for you fuller up your left front tire looks kind of soft glad to check them all for you while I'm at it yeah yeah okay yeah that's part of it but it is isn't it notice your windshield wipers kind of lose theirs he's ok now but getting that J Henry was a new man he was pleasant he tried to figure out what people needed before they had to ask for it and he made them feel welcome in his place of business let it take care of the only time sir come on and again Joe maybe I will thanks a lot the way Henry Carter treated fraid of the gas station kind of woke Fred up make him feel so good that maybe he ought to pass the same treatment under his customers the first one he trotted on was Tom Smith who is a salesman at our neighborhood Chevrolet company Fred to an interest in what Tom want it made him feel that he was glad to see him and glad to help him that suit looks mighty good on you is that what you had in mind I guess that's about it good but before you make up your mind finally I'd like you to take a look at these we might find something you like better and if we don't you'll be all the happier with this suit you have on sure why not would you excuse me just a moment mr. Smith certainly how do you do eyes who you're interested in ties yes here's a tray of new ones would you like to look these over while I finish with my other customer it'll be just a few moments ok Fred found that it was easy to be friendly and to treat people fairly and he found that knowing what he had to sell was important too and Tom Smith got a whole new slant on the business of helping the customer find what he really wants so you can see how the miracle that started on a modest corner began to spread throughout the whole community but amara the man who started it couldn't understand why people are suddenly becoming so friendly people like Tom Smith and Tom Smith's was caught up in the miracle of treating people right and he passed it on to joe corey our local butcher yeah I guess that's right mr. Smith now that you explained everything I understand all right I know you're gonna take care of me okay guess I asked a lot of questions not at all mr. Corey we feel that every customer has the right to know what he's getting for his money and what the things he buys are going to cost him now we want you to know we are going to do everything we can to try to get you a new car to you as soon as possible naturally it may take a few days because we want to be fair to our other customers I'm sure that's the way you'd want to do business Lee yes the simple little miracle of doing as you would be done by was spreading fast for example Pete Robbins the Chevrolet service manager pass in a long way to do most good writing his own Department colors before we go to work i'd like to tell you something I got to thinking about last night you see I take my clothes to Jake Thomas for dry cleaning and the reason is that I know he does a good job and he keeps his promises and well he makes me feel like he appreciates my business and if that'll work for him to keep me as his customer why won't it do the same thing for us right here in our own shop here's how I look at it the way to do good business is to have good customers and to keep them happy how we have good customers and the way to keep them happy is to remember three things do the job right the first time you've a job on time and be friendly while you're doing it cuando Maura sittin Nomura still didn't get it [Music] but Joe curry the butcher did incidentally Joe had quite a lot of reforming to do but he found it wasn't such a hard job thank you thank you goodbye hi how do you do mrs. Jones what can I do for you today well Joe you can tell me that I'm your very favorite customer and that you've got some nice lean pork chops hidden behind the counter especially for me well mrs. Jones everybody is my favorite customer but I'm gonna treat everyone fair and for everybody I've got no pork chops hiding but I've got some nice chickens here i want you to see a nice one here for a dollar 89 an extra-special good one or two and a quarter now you tell me which one you like now cut it up real nice for you it made you feel pretty good to be treating everyone as his favorite customer and it made Mary Jones feel pretty good to get that kind of treatment Mary Jones is a telephone operator down at the light company suddenly a lot of people found they were more cheerful after they had been talking to Mary of course by now Mary Jones was just one link in the one chain of the many chains there were passing the miracle along and so the miracle grew passing from friend to friend from family to family from store to store and for one business to another and pretty soon everyone found himself doing things a little differently give him a little more thought to the other fellow and discovering that life was a lot more fun ever since this has been a wonderful place to live and working with people liking each other and trusting each other business has picked up in all the stores with people spending more money and getting more out of it and it's so easy to keep on doing it we don't think we're ever going to stop some of our business men got have a poster so strangers will know how we want to treat them here you can read it yourself and the missile finally got around to changing Amara just like it changed everyone else and now he can count his friends of course there had to be a catch somewhere the fact about that morning when it all started have never before been revealed to a human soul and there's the only man who knows the reason officer hamara didn't explode that morning was because the poor devil woke up with laryngitis and couldn't raise his voice above a whisper and Who am I to be telling you all this who should know better than himself o Mara but is one thing starting a miracle is easy it isn't everybody wearing a halo it's just letting the people you do business with know that you like them that you want to help them it's just keeping your word and being fair with everyone it's just doing things the pleasant way and I found it the easiest way now if found miracle got start it will say now by accident just think how easy it would be to start one on purpose now you take a dip from Aurora and dry it where you live and where you work