I have a new job. I have left the fine folks of the Atlantic Media Company and joined Terpsys. I went go from supporting journalists, bloggers, designers, developers and other media company types to supporting scientists and researchers looking for a cure to cancer. ((In reality, I’ve spent the past few weeks learning policies and procedures and waiting for my accounts to be created and badge access. But one day I’ll get back to supporting people!))

I was very excited to join the company and they have made me feel welcome.

After receiving my job offer and accepting, I received an envelope in the mail from my new employer. It was a small envelope that couldn’t have held any official paperwork. ((I had already received that by email.)) Curious, I opened it.

Inside the tiny envelope was a Thank You card. And in the card was a Starbucks gift card.

They were thanking me for joining their team and offered to buy me a drink. ((Next up, find a Starbucks.)) I was touched with the gesture. It wasn’t something they had to do. It wasn’t even something I expected or had seen before.

They took the time and effort and money out of their day to hand write me a note and pickup a Starbucks card for me. This shows all their talk of customer service is not just talk. ((Terpsys is a customer service company that happens to work in Information Technology.))

This one seemingly insignificant gesture told me more about the company I had just joined more than a hundred meetings or a thousand Powerpoint presentations ever could.

If they treat their employees this well, then they must really care about their customers. And it shows.

It is always the little things that makes a company shine. Just as the small touches in a design can really make it shine, paying attention to the details and going above what is expected will always be appreciated and remembered.