Just Do It!

Today will end entirely too quickly and there will never - on any day - be enough hours to do all the things you want and need to accomplish.  Will you wish your life away, praying for an end to another difficult day filled with stress and apprehension?  Or will you strive to do one thing well today?

We are scattered.  Scattered in our focus.  Scattered in our efforts.  Scattered in our objectives.  It's a complicated world with high and competing demands from family, faith, work and society.  The only way to find your way in the maze of all this "stuff" is to take that first step, followed by another, then another.  Otherwise, you will sit among the rubble of your life and be overwhelmed and lost.

You know the things that really need to be done.  Sometimes, though, there are things we prefer to do, things that we can justify and call important.  But what we tell others does not stop that inner voice that says, "you know what you really need to be doing."  What's that old saying about stress?  It's the tension caused by what you ought to do versus what you want to do?

I find that at the beginning of each day, if I will first tackle those things I least want to, the rest of the day generally falls into place with a lot less tension; and, at the end of the day, I can check that one thing off my to-do list and not have to face it again tomorrow.  And that makes tomorrow a lot more appealing!

Ticked-off and Cashed Out

It’s been a few years now, but it’s funny how a bad taste can hang around for so long.

I was at a video store…the then mammoth super video store.  I’m in the line, happy with my little movie picks and ready to go home and relax with a good flick.  I approach the rental counter.  The girl takes my membership card.

                I can’t rent this to you until you pay this past due balance.

Wait!  Did I hear her right? What past due balance?

$8.64.  It’s from…like…way back.

Despite her Doberman-like stare (I can’t say if she actually growled, or if I just imagined it), I reply, I don’t know about any balance.  What’s it for?

I can’t even find it, she says, slapping at the keyboard and looking at the screen while shaking her head dejectedly. You’ve had this bill a   l  o  n  g   (I could see the word stretching out before me) time.  Are you telling me you’re not receiving notices?

Lovely of you to ask –especially like that.  No, I haven’t received any notices, but I have moved. 

Well, I can’t rent it to you – and none of our other stores will, either – until you pay this (just in case I’m a serial non-payer - as clearly indicated by an unpaid balance of $8.64 - and prepared to victimize yet another branch of their business).

Now I’m really getting mad, and worse – embarrassed - in front of everyone trying to get their videos and go on with their lives.  OK.  You don’t know what I owe it for, but you just want me to pay it?  Even though I’ve been renting from your stores regularly and no one has said a word until now?  You can’t tell me what I owe it for, and I suppose it would be absurd to consider that this could be an error, right?

She just looks at me with raised eyebrows and hands on her hips– my favorite look from someone who wants my hard-earned money – the one that silently says, “Whatever!”

Well, here’s what happened.  I went down the street to another store for the same chain, where they looked up my apparently infamous account.  I paid my debt to society and the store.  No one apologized, but they did take the money.  But here’s what else happened:  I never, ever, ever – to date -  rented from that chain again.  Did I mention it was years ago?  I told myself she’s just one employee.  What about all the times I didn’t have that kind of experience?  Didn’t matter.  The damage was done.  The rudeness and humiliation was too much to forgive - especially since no one asked me to.

What exactly did she do? 

• She assumed I intentionally did not pay an outstanding bill, and by refusing to consider  any other possibility, she attacked my character and integrity. 
• She publicly embarrassed me. 
• She conveyed to me that my patronage was not worth her efforts, and that anyone with her company would feel the same.

What did she accomplish?  She netted the company the apparently long-overdue $8.64 and lost a customer for life.  Had the matter been escalated to one of her company's executives, I'm not certain they would have been impressed.

And here’s the lesson:  Our customers and our potential customers deserve to be treated well, to have issues explained to their satisfaction, to understand that we value that they have chosen to spend their hard-earned money with us.  We owe it to them, and to us, to treat them with care, dignity and respect.

Thanks for listening.

Change

I was comfortable.  I had found a place that practiced values and cared about the people who came there for treatment and the people who, in one capacity or another, came there to serve their needs. 

Most of all, in that place, I had found my place.  And though it was stressful and challenging, I was convinced that I did things that mattered.  I connected.  I led.  I served.  My quirky ideas and insights made sense and made an impact. 

Then came the unsettling news that my place was not going to be my place much longer. 

I spent useless hours wondering why.  More hours thinking I could reinvent myself to fit into a different peg.  A few more unproductive hours feeling bitter.  Then, I simply returned to being who I am, and understanding that my unique talents, character and skills still have a place.  It just isn't the same place any more.

With that, I began to look at what good would come of this experience. After all, I have often advised others that what you dread most is often what you need to face and embrace. 

I wondered... What will I learn?  What will I find in this new beginning that will stretch and energize me?  What strengths will surface that I might never have known existed at all?  I actually began to be excited about this new journey, and anxious to take that first step. 

I wait with great anticipation for my new place.  In the meantime, I work to leave a legacy in the small contriutions I make, in being remembered for being kind and being constructive, for smiling often and bringing smiles to others, and saying with absolute honesty and conviction, "It was my very great pleasure to help you."