Associate’s ‘quote of the day’ brings joy to customers
As the doors open to the Lowe’s of Pearland, Texas store, Pro Loader Bob Lieb crouches down and begins to wipe away writing on a large, whiteboard.
It is 7 a.m. and the first wave of construction workers, contractors and other building professionals begin to stream in, talking and laughing with the ProServices team, getting supplies and preparing for their day ahead.
Bob is patiently writing on the board; the sound of the marker squeaking cuts through the morning chatter.
As he stands up to look at his work, customers begin to greet him, smile and even embrace him in a hug as they walk by.
“I had retired and I ran out of projects to do at home,” Bob said. “My wife said ‘go to work’…so I did. I started as part-time and worked my way into full time.”
Bob was later joined at the Pearland Lowe’s by his daughter and eventually, his granddaughter.
“I don’t get to see them every day, but when I do, it’s a pleasure. Not only do you see your family, but all of you are enjoying where you work.”
Shortly after Bob arrived at the store in early 2015, he began to write a ‘quote of the day’ on a large board in front of the lumber aisle. He credits the idea of the board to his daughter, Laurie Quillen.
“It was her idea, to give people a positive outlook,” he explained. We started getting comments on them and that encouraged me to dig into it deeper. We had people come in the door, stop and read it, pull out their phone and take a picture of it. I said ‘Hey, this is great! We are affecting somebody’s life’.”
“They are all just interesting,” says Mike Weeks, a construction company owner in Pearland. “They all have something positive to say and I read these, take them back to the office and sometimes I post them on Facebook. I share them with others all the time. I share them with my employees because it brings a good, heartfelt feeling to your surroundings.”
Bob loves the attention the quotes bring and the inspiration others find in them.
“If we can just put a smile on somebody’s face, just for five seconds, that person is already having a better day,” Bob said. “And if you have a good attitude, it is going to rub off on them. Just stop and think: if the world would try to improve their attitude, how much better of a place would this be?”
