“Look after me next time”

Yesterday I took some time out during the day to drive to a Homebase store to “click and collect” something for my new house. As I was about to leave, about 3pm, I saw a food truck in the car park. Smart, I thought, targetting hungry working folk stopping off for things they need for jobs. Having not had lunch and loving to support local small entrepreneurs, the choice was obvious.

Obvious? Well, long time readers will know I am on a lifelong quest for the best bacon roll and with my absolute favourite no longer available, the owners having retired in October 2019 (the food truck is still there, but not the same operators).

Now, the bacon roll was indeed great, but what made the experience was something else. You see, I’ve got so used to contactless payment by phone during Covid that I didn’t even have a wallet with me, let alone cash. Unfortunately, the card reader at the food truck wasn’t working. Without hesitation, the owner of the food truck simply said: “look after me next time“.

All relationships are based on trust. How do you know you can trust someone? How did he know he could trust me to make the drive back and pay for the last bacon roll (and order another!)? As James Timpson, one of my favourite business leaders in the UK would say: “The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them“.