Hey. Welcome to the Stephanie Stevens show where
I help you discover the power of communication
and the keys that unlock the doors to
freedom
in every area of your life. Well, hi
friend, I hope that you are having a
beautiful day so far. And I hope that
if your day is not beautiful, and it's
kinda dr dreary right now that something delightful
strikes your heart, and it turns around quickly.
Know what it's like to be in those
little places. I was there just a few
minutes ago, honestly,
because I got off the phone with my
daughter and she sent me pick shirts and
my heart started to ache, and I realized
how much I missed her. She's away at
college and
oh mh. I'm just trying to recover. Because
as a mom, I am loving that my
kids are out doing life and adventures and
on their specific path and yet the mom
in me just just want them all really
call us like all the time. I want
them to be super independent and successful, but
I want them to be Alright? Next to
me while they do it. Does that sound
weird? I think they call that helicopter parenting,
guilty. Guilty is charged but I was never
1 of those parents who was super excited,
like, oh, I can't wait to throw all
a lot of the house. I remember having
friends that would always, like, count the the
years down. I almost felt like they were
counting down the days until their kids were
going to be leaving for college or turning
18 or leaving the house because they were
gonna have this newfound sense of freedom.
I never felt that way. I always was
excited at their growth and their expansion
but literally
dreaded having to make that transition of having
them
under my roof in my little nest
and watching them fly the nest and then
having to watch them do life
somewhat from afar. Who we're all still very
close. We see each other as often as
we can. But, yeah, I was not 1
of the yay, hurry up and turn 18
and get out now that wasn't me. I
was the opposite. I'm like, come back. Everybody
just come back. It'll be fun.
Alright. Well, that's
actually
not what I wanted to chat with you
about today what I wanted to talk to
you about as a young man by the
name of Michael. I met him as I
was shopping for garlic cro coupons.
Let me explain. I have a bit of
a spiritual mentor who has fallen ill, and
I am committed to seeing her visiting with
her weekly and bringing her a little something
that she really enjoys to eat. So I
was looking for a specific type of cro
on to go in the soup that I
was making her. And so I went into
this gross store to go, pounding up and
down the aisle frantically searching for cro coupons,
I noticed a young man stocking shelves And
as I stopped in the seasoning aisle next
to the salad dressing and stuff, he was
there. And I glanced over at him, and
he glanced over at me a notice, and
immediately said, is there something I can help
you find. And as soon as he said
that it became clear to me that this
young man was different had I recognized that
cadence. I recognized the expression on his face
and I recognized the beautiful way in which
he immediately jumped in to help me find
whatever it was. I was looking for. I
recognized it because I've been working with people
on the autism spectrum for 26
years. So it dawned on me that this
young man I immediately looked at his name
Tag, Michael, that Michael was most likely on
the spectrum and that I was in very
good hands. So he asked me, is there
something I can help you find? And I
said, well, yeah. Actually, yes. I am looking
for a very specific type of cro on?
He said, a, Cro ton follow me. And
so I followed him 2 aisle over where
I never expected to be because it wasn't
by the salad dressing, and then he proceeded
to me what type of coupon? I was
looking for and I said, well, curiously enough,
I didn't know there were so many different
varieties, but I'm looking for a garlic cro
ton. To which he said, well, as you'll
notice here down toward the bottom, there are
garlic. There's butter garlic. There's butter. There's plain,
there's italian season and he went down the
list of my options. And I said, wow,
Michael, I didn't even know this many cro
coupons existed.
But thank you. I think this is the
1 I'm looking for here. I think I'm
looking for the garlic cro coupon for the
soup I'm making. And then he politely
so politely asked me if there was anything
else I needed and I said not today,
but Really appreciate your help. Thank you. And
then I walked up toward the... Check out.
Well, not before my third or fourth item
was on the belt. Did Michael reappear to
bag my groceries.
And so I said, oh, hey, Michael. Thanks
for helping out. He said, sure. And then
he of course asked me if I wanted
paper or plastic. I indicated which I preferred,
and I then mentioned to the cashier, you
know, thank goodness for michael because he helped
me find the crude coupons I was looking
for. I probably would have me around for
a very long time, and so I proceeded
to just share with the cashier how helpful
Michael had been. I let her know that
he was extremely helpful that he helped me
find what I was looking for right away
and that I was amazed at how he
knew exactly where to go and find just
about anything. Like, wow. Cool. Right? And so
she just kinda, you know, shrugged whatever nod
didn't agreed with whatever I said. That's her
job. Then as I was going to start
putting things into the cart, Michael was helping
me. I was struggling
to find a place to put a few
of the more fragile items, and Michael recommends
that I move my purse out of the
cart and into the actual purse compartment so
that he can make room for the bags.
And again, he did it in the most
polite way he was totally right. Like,
I was sort of a little chaotic and
not paying attention, and he was very precise
and very methodical and knew exactly what needed
to happen for me to get everything into
that card that I needed and to get
out of that store. So why am I
telling you my grocery re
because I don't think that the michaels of
the world are acknowledged and affirmed as much
as they should be. This young man has
clearly overcome many obstacles.
And working with this population, I know how
torment it can be to be a young
man in a public educational setting? That's why
I frankly never recommend it. But I wondered
to myself as I drove away what kind
of hurdles and challenges he had to face
growing up, the teasing,
potentially the bullying,
finding his way through life and here he
is with this job, and not only does
he have this job
but I am going to put money on
the fact that I will bet that that
store very best and most loyal
and most pun
employee with the highest attendance is probably Michael.
And I'm telling you this population this beautiful,
some call calling in neuro,
some just stick with the. Autism,
spectrum
language,
regardless, this beautiful
population of young men and women that I
wish got more credit. I wish they got
more jobs. I wish they were part of
the workforce. I wish that they were a
broader part of customer service. I wish that
they got more recognition. I wish that retailers
like that retailer trusted
this population to do those types of jobs
because I am telling you friend, they deserve
it. And my invitation to you today is
going to be this when you see someone
who you imagine probably had a considerable amount
of struggle growing up and and dealing with
whatever hurdles or challenges or disabilities or special
needs or special talents and gifts, whatever, we're
gonna categorize that as. As you acknowledge that
somebody has dealt with those things. And you
see them doing an exceptional job The invitation
friend is, would you please acknowledge that? Would
you please let them know that you see
them? Would you please them know that they've
done a good job for you and thank
them, and I'm gonna ask you to go
1 step further. Would you acknowledge to the
employer, a, thank you to them and an
acknowledgement that the young man or woman that
helped you that's provided their service to you
did an exceptional job if it's true. I
mean, don't make stuff up. But if you
really had a good experience. Would you let
them know that? Because as
employers
hear that kind of feedback, they will open
up to, hiring more of this population to
let them do the phenomenal job that they
absolutely can do. It's going to serve the
business well. Trust me. But I just think
if we maybe provide that type of feedback,
we will see more of these beautiful
individuals in the types of jobs that they
deserve to have I hope he gets promoted.
Frankly, he should be running the store and
I hope he does. But we gotta start
opening the door and
encouraging things like this with employers and with
each other in the community so that we
can all benefit from the beautiful gifts and
talents these young men and women have to
offer. Are you in?
Thanks for listening, my friend. You know I'm
with you in this 1. As always, much
loved to you. Thanks again for listening, and
I can't wait see you on the next
episode.
Thanks so much for listening to the Stephanie
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We'll see on the next episode.