A few days ago I was given the book The Fred Factor: How passion in your work and life can turn the ordinary into the extraordinary to read by a “Fred”. “Fred” called me today to ay she was changing jobs and asked if I could return the book. I told her I hadn’t finished it so she said she would put her address in my mailbox so I could mail it to her. Well, it was a short book so I took a little time and read this afternoon and returned it to her.

My “Fred” was actually Shelly. Shelly works at the counter of the Mississippi State Post Office and tomorrow is her last day before she moves to another post office. One day when things were very slow I went to the post office and when I walked up to the counter Shelly put Fred down to help me. I asked her about the book and if she enjoyed it. She then asked if I would like to borrow it. I said yes and she said she had one other person lined up to read it before me.

Fred is a book about doing a little extra to make someone’s day special. It is about giving that little bit of extra of customer service. In the book, Fred really is a postal worker; a “street walker” as my former Master Chief referred himself in is civilian job as a mailman. When I got the book I noticed that someone had given it to Shelly because they recognized her as a Fred. And a Fred she is indeed. I’ll miss seeing her every day when I walk in to check my mail.

Shelly is not the first Fred I have met; I’ve met several. One was an international worker, Indian I think, who was working at Sbarro’s in Washington. I was staying at the Crystal City Marriott and Sbarro’s was in the mall next to the hotel. I had some work to do in the room so I decided to gt a slice of pizza to take to the room. All of the pizza looked good and I asked about some of them. Then I narrowed my choice down to two and couldn’t decide. I almost got both but finally decided to only get one.

I had paid for the pizza and was sprinkling it with cheese and red pepper when the guy called to me and was handing me another piece of pizza. It was a slice of the other pizza I wanted. His English was not very good and I thought he thought I wanted both pieces. Then I thought about it and realized I had only paid for one slice. I told him this and said thank you but I have my pizza. He kept insisting that I take the pizza and I kept telling him I had my pizza. Finally he said, “here, me, you, friends.” I was astonished that this perfect stranger, in a large city, was given me a slice of pizza. I took the pizza and thanked him several times before I left.

Now, I do realize that the restaurant was closing in about 15 minutes and there would have been several pieces of pizza to throw out. But this guy did not have to give it to me. He could have kept for himself, but he didn’t. I honestly doubt that guy remembers that night because I was just one of thousands people he sold pizza to. But I remember that incident and remember his word. I also never pass up eating at Sbarro’s when I’m hungry and near one. His small gesture, his slice of free pizza won the company a loyal customer. He was a Fred, long before Fred was ever written.

I want more Fred’s!