"Be Nice, or Go Home!"

Food Network recently featured a story of a husband & wife restaurant team who were working hard at their business & lives to make a good living & run a successful restaurant. They just love their business & are so proud of what they're building. Hanging in their restaurant is a sign reading, "Be nice or go home." The co-owner of the restaurant explained to Food Network that she & her husband were working hard to serve their patrons! The staff was working hard, too & that they were all going to do their very best to make sure people were served delicious food & had a wonderful dining experience.

She went on to explain that they would not tolerate being mis-treated by demanding & dis-respectful diners since they had all made commitments to do their very best each day & treat people respectfully. She & her husband would not continue serving anyone who mistreated them or their staff. They would simply point to their sign & ask them to leave! Wow! Really? They decided they wouldn't break their backs to serve people who would not control their tongues or choose to be respectful in their restaurant.

I gotta say that I love this approach! Good for them! I appreciate the stand they've taken in their business & I've given it a lot of thought. What would happen if we all hung this sign around our own necks! Just asking people to be nice & act respectfully toward us or just go ahead & go home! I wish I'd had the guts sometimes in my life to simply point to the sign & ask someone to be nice or go home! LOL!

I mean, kids don't get to go the playground & then act anyway they want in being mean to another child. Children must make a decision to be nice or face the consequences of being separated from the other children. The same is true for adults- all of us- to be nice to others or face the consequences of not having them in our lives. People don't want us to stay at the "playground" if we're not playing nice with them!

This sign is applicable in ALL areas of our lives! School, work, friends & family. Maybe when an employee shows up for work in the mornings, they must agree to be nice for the day. They must agree to treat co-workers & patrons respectfully while they're at work. (This recently hit close to home & I really wished this person had had to sign up for "nice-ness" that day! LOL!) Then, there are holidays where close & extended family are expected to share the time & space of the event & then someone in the group chooses to be ugly or disrespectful! Families are forced to share these times with people who are "blood" even though they wouldn't really choose them as friends because they're just not nice in their actions! It might really work, if when family members show up for holidays, we point to the sign, "Be nice or go home" & every member signs an agreement they'll be nice for the event! LOL! I'm just thinking out loud, here!

We have to make the same commitment in our own lives... if I'm in a circumstance that I just cannot be nice, maybe I should just go ahead & excuse myself to leave so that no more hurt will happen. I can't just go to someone's home & treat them any 'ole way I want to! I have to be nice or leave! How would the world be changed if we acted more respectfully toward one another? If we expected to be treated with respect & at the same time, acted respectfully? I think a lot more holidays, work-places, restaurants & playgrounds would be more attractive if we hung this sign up everywhere & followed it's lead!

Maybe moms all over the world have a point when they say, "If you can't think of something nice to say, say nothing at all!" Even though, not saying anything at all isn't nice, either! I think they mean, simply put, BE NICE! Home is the number one place to "be nice!" Family are the number one group of people to practice nice-ness on! Maybe the sign should read, "Be Nice!" Period! Just be nice!

Funny how much "Be Nice or Go Home" sounds like something Jesus teaches, "Treat others just like you want to be treated." Funny how much Jesus knows about what works & what doesn't in our day to day living! Funny that "being nice" is easy to say but not always easy to do. Jesus knows showing respect is the only way to truly live successfully!

Maybe, as time is limited for me, I expect more nice-ness out of myself & others. There's not really a lot of time to mess around & over-look the sign! This doesn't mean to live or act fake, just means the least we can all do is make the people around us glad that they're around us, right? Make them happy to know they'll be treated respectfully no matter the day or circumstance since we're all in this life together!

So, for today & the days that follow, "NICE" is the word!

Blessings!