I had the privilege of spending the weekend in beautiful Door County, the thumb of Wisconsin, with my family.
Some call it the Cape Cod of the Midwest. I can’t argue with that.
It was my first time, so of course I took in the goats eating grass on the roof at Al Johnson’s.
But another popular tourist attraction, the fish boil, was particularly memorable.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about service, hospitality, and using one’s hard-earned knowledge to make someone else’s day.
The current owner and master of the boil at Pelletier’s Restaurant & Fish Boil, Matthew Peterson, exemplifies all three.
Humble, friendly, knowledgeable, and hard-working, Chef Matthew brings the boil to life with science (ten pounds of salt!), story, and just the right amount of silence so you can simply take it all in.
The video starts just after a ceremonial bell ringing followed by the traditional shout of “boil over!” from Chef Matthew, symbolizing the end of the cooking process and beginning of the meal.
He typically boils 7 night per week from Mother’s Day to October. I wondered to myself how he could do this night in and night out.
A beautiful moment in season 2, episode 7 of Hulu’s The Bear (highly recommend) answered that for me:
Cousin Richie, played masterfully by Ebon Moss-Bachrach, finally finds purpose during this episode, in which we are given the gift of witnessing him transform.
While staging at “the best restaurant in the world,” he asks a remarkably talented front of the house team member “how do you do this?”
She answers, matter of factly but with an air of acknowledgment of how demanding her job is, “I get to make someone’s day every night. That’s how I do it.”
Watching Chef Matthew do his thing sure made my day.
If you replace your thoughts about the drudgery associated with hard, repetitive work with thoughts about the value and magical moments you may be giving someone else, you may find yourself feeling a lot different over time about the day to day aspects of how you bring value to the world.
Give it a try.
