There are, of course, the saints. The ones with glowing haloes, extraterrestial-type neon glowage, and the ultimate dead-giveaway…the wings hanging off the back shoulderblades.

But sometimes, there are semi-saints; people traveling in disguise. Like the butcher here in Beauvoisin who patiently reviews my French and helps me get the words right.

Or all the lovely people who nod and say Bonjour every where we go.

Or Malika Issaoui, who has gone way beyond her role as a caretaker at our rental house, and instead has become a friend.

Or Kevin Redl who delivers my coffee to my bedside every morning of my life. (Ah, but that is a different type of angel altogether).

Or someone like the unlikely saint we met today at Europcar…

There is a long stupid backstory involving credit cards and insurance limits and other sundry and boring details as to why we went to Avignon today to renew our rental car contract. But it was there, behind the counter at the little rental agency, that we met Kevin Kelly.

Kevin could have made the whole thing even more painful, but instead? He made it fun. He added some extra hints about booking in the future and which credit card was the best to use for coverage and promptness of payment in case of an accident.

And then, when he found out we’d been in France for awhile and still had a week or so left, he hauled out a map and started highlighting the towns that were absolute ‘must-see’ stops.

Kevin Kelly is originally from South Africa where he worked in investment banking. He discovered that there were no great jobs in his line of work when he got to France. And while highlighting our map, he happened to mention a town where we could see the gallery of his artist father-in-law. I’m going out on a limb here, but I am betting that a French love drew him here, and somehow he has landed up as an agent at Europcar.

My friend Karen Judd has trained me to rate job satisfaction. I first heard her say it a few years ago after we encountered a sullen clerk,  “Low job satisfaction,” she whispered as we left. Way more often she has said, “High job satisfaction,” after dealing with someone who was clearly enjoying their life. KJ is a detail-noticing kind of gal…

So, as a result of my KJ training, I really pay attention to these things. At some point in our transaction, I said to Mr. Kelly, “I like noticing employee’s job satisfaction.”

“What would you give me?” he said.

“I’d give you a full ten.”

“Alright! Will you please tell my boss?” he was laughing as he said this.

“Look,” I said, “The way you deal with customers, it’s like you already are the owner of this company.”

So this is just a note to whoever is truly in charge of Europcar.

First of all, your rates and service are great. Thank you.

But secondly, I think you should be extra nice to Mr. Kelly, cuz he really is a bit of a saint.

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