Of course everyone knows the saying ‘you can’t judge a book by its cover’ but there is also the say ‘The devil is in the details.’ As someone who often says I don’t feel like I make great first impressions but will win you over as time goes by, I fully agree that your first judgment shouldn’t be set in stone but there are definitely things you can glean from small details you can pick up that start to paint the picture.

At a recent event where free food is handed out to the public I watched workers take some food before the public, who the event is for, stuff their faces. When said they should make sure others get theirs first they laughed it off. At that same event food ran out and other workers turned down food to make sure as many people as possible could get served. Are those workers jerks? You can’t go all the way there but it is a noticeable detail.

At Weenie Wednesday we give away tickets during the event that are used to draw for prizes after the food is gone, as long as you are part of our text club. We of course are pretty generous with it because it’s a fun listener appreciation event, but there are people that try and take advantage and lie to claim multiple tickets. We aren’t trying to make a commotion at a fun event that is a summer staple, but what kind of person would lie when everything is free? That picture starts to get a whole lot clearer.

I personally believe in patience and understanding and try to practice them as often as I can. One of the most important places to carry those virtues is when you’re out a restaurant. We’ve all experienced bad service and mistakes but who’s to say what caused those or who is at fault. I have family members that I don’t enjoy going out with because they’re rude and leave me feel embarrassed more often than not when we go out to eat. I do believe that small detail really does outline the bigger picture.

Speaking of food, how about when you go grocery shopping? How many carts have you seen left out. Now of course maybe there’s an emergency that comes up but do you really not have time to take the cart back to the stall? Some great video pranks are people being confronted about not returning their carts and the absolutely bogus excuses they come up with. Why can you not take it back? Do you think your time is more valuable then the workers who return the carts? Definitely would seem to show you a little bit more of what that person has on the inside.

Does a person say please, thank you, do they listen to a disagreement to their point of view? I always make sure to please an thank you, I honestly probably over say it but they’re just a few words that have a big impact. One of my biggest pet peeves is holding a door for someone who just walks by and says nothing. How hard is it to acknowledge the nice, albeit small thing, someone did for you?

Hosting Weenie Wednesday in the park, and dating a bit of a wild spirit, another small thing I notice is litter. As kids we’re taught to pick up after ourselves, so do it. I went to Yellowstone National Park and there’s a beautiful rainbow body of water called the Morning Glory pool that has lost some of its color because people have thrown trash in it, why? What decent person would do that to a natural wonder?

Anybody have a work fridge that has had stuff taken out of it? Another childhood lesson, don’t take things that aren’t yours, but that is a topic that makes its way on to our morning show multiple times because someone at work still does it. Why? Is it yours? No, then don’t eat it!

In the grand scheme of a personal identity these are small things relatively, but they aren’t meaningless. These things at least paint an outline, show the framework of a person. If you won’t do small things for someone else you definitely won’t do big ones. The older I get and the more I gain notoriety, and no I don’t think of myself as a celebrity, the small things become more important to me as I meet more and more people and work with more people professionally and in side projects as I try to build my career in brand. Pay attention to the small things.