The Continuing Adventures of Just a Waiter - MADE Cards

 One of our associate guidelines at work is that we are not allowed to receive tips from our residents or their families or friends.  Now, as that may sound unfair, especially to the associates who wait tables, there is a way around that.  We have these little things called MADE cards.  MADE stands for Making a Difference Everyday, which is our company motto.  Anyone can fill out a MADE card for any associate at anytime.  Each card is worth a certain amount of points and at the end of each quarter, those points can be cashed in.  All in all, it's a pretty fair system and a nice alternative to getting a tip.  

But the truly nice thing about it is reading those cards that are made out for you.  Finding out that what did actually made a difference to someone.  Sometimes it's a resident, sometimes it's a family member, sometimes it's another associate.  Most of the time, we've done things that we weren't aware were helping someone out.  Maybe we just simply asked another associate if they needed help with something.  Maybe we went out of our way to listen to a resident when they just needed to talk.  There are so many reasons for the MADE cards.  

I would like to tell my fellow associates to utilize the MADE cards more.  We have several associates who fill them out constantly but we can all do more with them.  It makes your coworker feel so much better just to know that they've been helpful.  These cards are a great tool for teambuilding because you can reach out to others that you might never really do otherwise.  You can get to know people better through these cards.  And it's very helpful in understanding some of the things that go on in other departments that we normally take for granted.

Admittedly, I do not fill out enough MADE cards and I need to work on that.  If I would keep myself in the moment when something happens and not think, oh I'll fill it out later, I would definitely be more proficient in writing them.  That is one of my goals from here on out at work.  Because, if I can go a day without seeing something worthy of filling out a MADE card, then we're not doing our jobs to the best of our capabilities.

That is all.