There are still many jobs/gigs/side hustles out there that can make us feel great about what we do. Don’t let the curmudgeons in your work circle (or your work from home circle) convince you that every work environment sucks. That’s a stereotype perpetuated by people who are in the wrong role or are not truly invested in what they do, in many cases. And the reasons for their dismay are not reasons you need to agree with to preserve some artificial harmony in your office setting, either. In light of so many who are now working from home these last several weeks, perhaps even some of those naysayers may actually show some gratitude for being back in a place of business once again after the dust settles on re-opening each state and getting everyone back to work. But I digress…

My point is that we can (and should!) celebrate our respective work roles whenever possible, because we were selected (or in the case of consultants, freelancers, digital nomads, creatives and remote workers, we selected ourselves) to do something on behalf of someone else: a third party client, a direct customer, a new user, a first time buyer and the list goes on. In my case, I’m a Hal — and it’s one of the most rewarding opportunities available!

Yet another great thing about being a Hal is that you are constantly surprised and delighted by how customers respond to having their requests fulfilled. The funny thing is, it is often the details that they remark about the most. It can be the little things that you incorporate in answering a request that can make all the difference in the world to people. And as a Hal, I still find myself underestimating how key it is to exceed the customer’s expectations in those very tiny details. Let me share another Hal story with you that really demonstrates my point about how the small things make a BIG difference for others:

As you might expect, my side of this story always starts out the same, because the Hal app introduces the customer in a way that helps them engage with their Hal. And then, through the magic of technology, I begin the conversation with, “How can I help you today?” This time the request was very specific and posed an interesting challenge:

Customer: “Hey Hal! I have a confession — I am obsessed with the show Billions! I binge watch it and re-watch it every chance I get because the writing is amazing and the actors are really incredible on this show. As I have been re-watching some of the episodes, I have noticed how whenever there’s a scene with food, it’s almost like they are featuring the restaurant in the scene when they’re dining or snacking all over NYC. But then I thought they may be fake restaurants because it would seem like the owners are getting free press on a major show. I’d love to know if they just change the names of these restaurants for the sake of the show itself or are they real?”

Hal (aka Me): “Wow! That’s an intriguing request. Can I ask the name of a few of these restaurants and the city or cities they appear to be located in on the show?”

Customer: “Sure. The pizza place that Bruno runs is called Capparello’s. It’s the pizza joint that the main character, Bobby Axelrod, used to go to as a kid (the character, not the actor Damian Lewis). It was featured in Season 1. And then there’s these food trucks they have all over NYC. I would love to know about those food trucks, like the Donut one that the other character, Chuck Rhoades, paid a visit to in Season 1 with his kids.”

At this point, I was very fortunate because this customer’s admitted obsession was chock full of details I could use to research this request. I had the main characters names, one actor’s name, the show name and a couple of restaurants to delve into and research. I sensed that there were going to be a few sources that would be reliable and updated enough that I could at least confirm or deny the existence of these restaurants as a first step. But what I uncovered (no spoilers) was the mind blowing part of fulfilling this request in a way that truly served to amaze this customer.

I let the customer know that it may take me a few minutes to look into this very unique request but that I would check back with him in a little while. I also used the very next text I sent to provide a bit of a commercial as to why Hal is such an amazing service — and why the wait time is important:

Hal: “And by the way, one of the reasons the answers are not instantaneous is because I take the time to curate the information I find, avoid the ad-based results I locate and try to confirm the source info so you get the best possible set of answers. That’s not to say I cannot do a second or third search to find more — I just wanted to level set you as to why I will be a couple minutes before I complete your request.”

I have yet to have a reasonable customer ever complain about that reply…unless they never read the description of the Hal app, in which case they come back to me way too quickly and wonder why I haven’t automatically turned of the lights in their room or replied with the quadratic equation they were looking for. (We’ll talk about those customers another day)

As I scoured for the answers, I came across a Reddit post that happened to pick up on the name of the pizza place in a Billions subreddit! That lead then linked to another redditor who was a native of NYC and who linked the information about the pizza place to the actual location in NYC for the place where the scenes were filmed. From there, I went into full on “Google Fu” (that’s like Kung Fu, but with Google search results) and tried to cross reference that with the actor’s name and his character’s name.

And that’s when it happened!

I uncovered a blog site about EVERY restaurant for EVERY SEASON of the Billions show for the last three seasons — and the best is yet to come! The blog site is actually periodically moderated by none other than the lead character, Damian Lewis aka Bobby Axelrod! Once I realized that every single restaurant was listed with the actual address in places all over New York AND had the distinct advantage of having content and even some video featuring the lead actor on the blog site, I sensed this would meet the need for the customer. I also uncovered that all is not as it appears on Billions: Capparello’s is actually Rosa’s Pizza located in Middle Village, NY. But conversely, the Donut Food Truck is actually called Carpe Donut and is the real deal.

Admittedly, I had to move like lightning so I didn’t keep him waiting too long…and it was a good 6 minutes before the research paid off. However, it was neat to uncover that the majority of the restaurants that are featured go by their actual name and often feature the actual owner or chef. Only in a few instances are the names changed, but the locations are identified to corroborate the information right on the blog. And what came next made it worth the wait for all involved:

Hal: “Thanks for being so patient. I know 6 minutes while you await a text can seem like a long time.”

Customer: “No problem. Whaddaya got for me, Hal?”

Hal: “Well, I found out that most of the places featured are actual restaurants or food trucks in every case. Second, about only 20% of them are renamed something else for the sake of the show. The vast majority are places you can visit in and around NYC and upstate NY. And in a couple of cases, the actual restaurants were open during filming but have actually closed some time thereafter. In each case, you will be able to see those details.”

Customer: I am so stoked to get this info, Hal! Can you possibly send me some of the spots and their addresses from Season 1 or maybe even Season 2 if I give you some more names of these restaurants? You have NO IDEA how into this show I am! I bought a wool vest with the Axe Capital logo on it and a bunch of Billions swag from the HBO channel online. If I can get even a few of these restaurants to look into, I will be in heaven!

Hal: Well, get ready to live with the angels because I located a blog that has content FROM the lead character himself, Damian Lewis, with a complete listing of every restaurant from ALL THREE seasons of the show — with links to each location, and in some cases, even websites for the food trucks as well!

Customer: OMG! Damian Lewis actually is featured as part of the site?? This is more than I ever imagined. You have no idea how much this means to me. I never thought I would get SO much and have my fave actor be a part of the fulfillment of my request! I feel like I just won the lottery right now! Can I get the link?

Hal: Sure thing. Here’s the link: (imagine link here) Also, it has a lot of fan contributions on the site, which should make it fun for you to review further, as well.

I had hit the motherlode for an obsessed fan who could not even fathom that his favorite actor on his favorite show featuring all of the specific restaurants for all three seasons was even within the realm of possibility! Once again, the details played a major role in how this customer felt valued after using the Hal app.

The reality is that I could have been much more matter of fact about the request and simply come up with some itemized listing of these locations without the added touch of having a fan-based blog site literally categorize his very request in order of appearance by season — but if I walked by that resource for the sake of expediency, I would have done him a huge disservice. In other words, that blog went SO far beyond his expectation that to have access to it meant more to him than anything else. It was literally the best of both worlds, when all that was asked for was a couple of the restaurants in the show from Season 1. But when I was armed with all that other information, it became evident that finding this blog could make the fulfillment of the request go from good to great!

The customer went on to rave about how I completely went above and beyond on their request, which was very humbling. Perhaps even more importantly was the fact that hearing their enthusiasm via text (and then a follow up text after that…and one after that) was the most rewarding feeling ever. It’s like seeing a unicorn up close when the data that is found lines up better than expected to please a customer in a way they never thought possible.

So there it is: a fun, rewarding interaction with someone I will never directly meet or see at any point (recall that all personal info is anonymized by the Hal app for privacy purposes as a default for all customers) — but their enthusiasm based upon what I shared with them really made me feel tremendous. And when it comes to enjoying what you do and hearing those kinds of accolades from the people you serve, it doesn’t get any better than that. It’s those moments that make being a Hal so very rewarding. So take that all you “I hate my job” co-workers. You won’t see me complaining around the water cooler!

MAVRick