Fun fact you might not know about Ruby: We have the largest art display of butterflies in the state of Oregon. Why butterflies?
No, it’s not an homage to Mariah Carey. Rather, we were inspired by our core value of Grow. A lot has changed in our eleven years in business. And although Ruby may not look as it did a decade ago — huddled around our CEO’s kitchen table — our bright employees have transformed it into something truly remarkable.
Open Eye Art led our staff in a series of workshops to each create seven unique butterflies. Six were installed at Ruby’s headquarters, and each employee took home one butterfly, representing their personal growth. Already, the installation is having an impact. Excited about our butterfly project, Receptionist Heidi B. mentioned it to a client and sent the following email with more information: “While I haven’t had the privilege of speaking to you in a while, I wanted to follow up with you about our butterfly project. It was a company-wide project where every Ruby had the opportunity to make seven butterflies cut from a bendable metal and hand-painted.
“On the back of each one, we wrote various well wishes regarding Ruby. Our first and biggest butterfly has our name on the back with the date we started. On the others, we set intentions, such as what our hopes are for the future of Ruby Receptionists, our personal goal, the first memorable moment at Ruby, and then…drum roll please…the name of our favorite client. That’s where you come in!
“As you know, I put down your name because you have always been so wonderful with all of us. Everyone knows who you are here. Your warmth over the phone is an inspiration to us all! In fact, just yesterday one of our newest Rubys came up to me asking for a stamp. I saw a notecard in her hand-addressed to you. I gushed, ‘She’s one of our favorites!’
“Then, after all of our beautiful butterflies were uniquely and colorfully crafted, the women who spearheaded our creativity pierced them with little pins and arranged them along the length of our entrance hall as you will see in the attached photos. The butterflies move chronologically according to our hire dates, so as you will see there is an area of tremendous growth in the number of butterflies when you get to the point in time a year ago when our office expanded to its Beaverton location.
“The effect shows, like the theory of the butterfly effect, how each of us makes a difference in each life we come in contact with. One flap of a butterfly’s wing can cause a ripple effect that could cause a hurricane on the other side of the world! Similarly, one kind word can make someone else’s day which, in turn, can cause that person to make another person’s day, and so on, and so on.
“You are a butterfly effect. Thank you for always being so pleasant and joyful on the phone and taking that extra moment to say ‘Peace and Blessings!’“
As you can imagine, the client was deeply touched — and her response started with the word “WOW”! This story is just the beginning. Going forward, each new employee will create their own butterfly to add to the wall, reminding them of the difference they’re making with every phone call, every interaction, and every small act of kindness. We can’t wait to see what transformations are yet to come!
