Give 'Em the Pickle!

Special Edition

Acts 20:35 ESV

In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

When I worked in the corporate world, we would go through mandatory training every year. Much of our training consisted of enhancing and re-tooling our customer service skills.

Each time we trained we knew we were going to “get the pickle”. Yes, we were again going to see the training video entitled “Give ‘Em the Pickle” by Bob Farrell. Bob was a product of the depression, even losing his father to suicide after the stock market crash of 1929.

Bob Farrell became a successful restaurant chain owner and motivational speaker. Bob starts his video speaking about a customer that wrote him a letter about being charged for extra pickles at his restaurant. The customer stated in the letter that they loved everything about his restaurant, but charging for extra pickles was too much and they would never again eat at his restaurant.

After writing the customer back and assuring them this was not how they conducted business, he used the following slogan as their customer service mantra: “Give ‘Em the Pickle”!

Well, I learned that Mr. Farrell passed away this week at the age of eighty-eight. And this led me to ask the following question: As followers of Christ how do we Give Em the Pickle?

Yes, customer service is not only needed in our work lives, it is needed in our lives as those that proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ. How do we welcome others in our houses of worship, and how to we treat those who are our customers?

But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. 31“And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32“Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33“But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, 34and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35“On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.’36“Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” 37and he said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”

Beloved, Jesus was correct. Showing Mercy and Justice to all though the love of Jesus Christ is the pickle that we give our customers, and our customers are our neighbors.  I have attached a video of Mr. Farrell to this blog and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do and that it reflects that Christians are to be all about customer service.

“Give ‘Em the Pickle!”