I was working as a temp back in 1991. I was leaving the position and wanted to simply be different.
So I handed out a single long stem rose to each woman I had worked with. Two ladies were almost brought to tears when they accepted the rose. The first was a wonderful middle aged lady who was a joyful expression of life. The other was a recently married and mother of a newborn. It didn't fit. Neither of these ladies seemed to be anything but happy in life. It puzzled me. Why the tears?
I again was leaving a job and again decided to give out long stem roses to all the women in the center I worked. I had over 100 woman who got a rose. There was this one lady who happens to stand out. She and I passed each other 5 or so times a day. NEVER did I see her smile or even grin. After getting the rose this day she was ALWAYS smiling from ear to ear. I didn't get it still. But here was a glowing expression of a simple act of kindness changing something in this lady.
Again I was leaving a job. This time I wanted to do something a little different. I gave out the rose as always. Then I had a plaque made which had a poem on it I had written. The plaque was given out to eight different women. One had a REALLY bad day. She had to let some people go. When she read the plaque and hugged me she had tears forming in here eyes. What a difference she had in her day because of the words on that plaque.