I like to think that I am a very loyal friend and I know that the reason I am still friends with 3 of my girlfriends from school is because we are similar in our values and opinions on loyalty and friendship. I consider myself VERY lucky to have a group of friends – some new and some very old now – who I know I can rely on and are there for me in the same way that I am there for them. We may not see each other very often, but I know that if I were in trouble they would be there for me and help me, and vice versa.
It has never been a conscious decision to be loyal, it is just a value I have always believed in and one that my parents must have brought me up to abide by, and therefore it is second nature. Whenever I have filled in CV’s in the past, I have always listed among my qualities that I believe myself to be loyal and trustworthy. In the same way that when I owned my own cafe business, the most important qualities I looked for in my staff were that they were reliable, loyal and of course trustworthy – oh and a sense of humour was also crucial lol!
And even though I sold my cafe just after Burton was born, I am still good friends with these ladies.
Therefore, it is imperative to me that Burton and Jenson are brought up with these same and important values, I am a firm believer in the motto good manners cost nothing – a favourite saying of my Mum’s when my brother and I were growing up. But these words are so true, it really does not take any money or much time to say please, thank you and be courteous and nice to people. Growing up so close together in age, as much as my two boys are naturally close and have a wonderful friendship, they do of course also fall out a lot and argue, push and shout at one another. However, despite these temporary fallings out they are fiercely loyal to one another and will stick up for one another and their brotherly love is immense. From a young age they have both learned to share their toys with one another (Jenson had much less choice than Burton did, being the youngest of course lol) and other children whenever we had playdates. They have also been brought up to wait their turn and be polite and look after and out for one another, and if they do something which is not fair to their sibling I tell them and explain why. Even if they may not always be as well behaved at home as I would like, I know from talking to Burton’s teachers that these life lessons are having an impact because he abides by them at school.
I hope that as they grow older they will remain as close and always be there for one another. I also hope that just as I have done in my life whether it be with friendships or in a work situation, Burton and Jenson will automatically be loyal and fair to their friends, work colleagues, bosses or whatever and that it will come naturally to them as it does to me.
Loyalty and fairness is also important when it comes to customer service in my eyes and just as I wanted my staff to be reliable and trustworthy to me, it was imperative that they treated my customers well too. This is also true when I am a customer in a bank, cafe, soft play, supermarket or even on the telephone to a company, I want to be treated fairly and be made to feel special and wanted. This is what I really like and admire about Natwest’s latest campaign Hello/Goodbye (you may have seen the advertisements on the television at the moment). Natwest are recognising loyalty in its customers by not ignoring their existing ones, and therefore, they are waving goodbye to best offers aimed only at new customers clearly aimed at excluding existing customers. They are also saying goodbye to 0% teaser rates that cost more in the long run and goodbye to the practice of hiding the best deals online. At last a fair way of treating people – whether they be new or existing customers – *this* is a fantastic move in making customers feel important and being treated fairly. I am sure this will benefit Natwest because loyalty is key in maintaining and improving customer service.
I’m working with BritMums and NatWest on this project and have been compensated. All opinions are my own.
This post was brought to you as part of Flashback Friday 
Remember – a flashback can be from any time whether it be yesterday, last week, last month, last year or yesteryear! It can be a flashback of your own, your children, your partner or your friends.
Definitely good qualities to have as a person and to instill in our children. So great that you are still friends with people you went to school with. Your cakes must be really, really yummy 😉 lol x
When I came back from Italy after 20 odd years it was really lovely to hook up with school friends I hadn’t seen in all that time and pick up as if it were yesterday. You can’t put a price on good friends. Love this post