This morning, I read a post on LinkedIn that referenced red flag people, a term I was familiar with, but also green flag people, an expression that was new to me. In his post, Jeff McKeon of Australia's NeuroCapability organization defined green flag people as individuals who will clap for you and speak highly of you in the rooms that you're not in. He suggested that green flag people celebrate your wins, remember small things about you, and allow you to be fully yourself. They also leave you feeling energized after seeing them. McKeon advised: "Stop talking about all the red flags and start looking for the green ones!" The good still outnumber the bad, he insisted, contrary to what the media, social media and those shouting angrily would have us believe. Anya Lisowski shared McKeon's post, saying that there are many green flag people who make things brighter and better for others.

Not long after reading the post, I arrived at my local Costco and witnessed the frustration of a man who clearly disliked the new process for entering the store. Rather than flash a membership card at a Costco employee at the entrance, patrons must now scan their membership card on a scanning device. "If you're going to inconvenience me," the visibly perturbed man said, "I'm going to inconvenience everyone else." He turned his cart sideways to impede the entry of any other customers while he scanned his card. I heard him mutter, "This is f*ck*ng ridiculous" as I made my way into the store. Red flag or just someone having a bad day?

Costco was busy, this being a Friday before a long weekend. I manoeuvred around a crowd of people, only to pause when I tried to remember what I needed to pick up. At that moment, I perceived someone immediately behind me and quickly realized that my stopping had blocked the customer's progress. I turned to offer my apologies, to which the woman behind me said, "You good!" Her response was funny and unexpected, and it made me smile. This was surely one of those green flag people that McKeon had written about.

A few minutes later, while perusing items in the cheese and cold cuts section of the store, a woman approached me and showed me a photo of bacon on her cell phone. She said very little, perhaps because English wasn't her first language. Her simple question "Where?" was enough for me to realize what she needed. I pointed her to the aisle with coffee on one side and refrigerators on the other. She thanked me and departed. When my husband said he wanted to check an item on the other side of the warehouse, I took the opportunity to follow the woman who had been searching for bacon. I found her a moment later in the coffee-refrigerator aisle, with bacon in hand. "Oh, good, you found it," I said. "Yes, thank you," she replied.

In sharing McKeon's post, Anya added her own thoughts about green flag people: "Find those people, celebrate them, be them and don't let the red flags get you down." I loved Anya's advice. It reminded me of something a boss used to say to me, "Don't let the b*st*rds get you down." I've tried to follow that counsel all my life.