For quite some time now, it seems that I have been “rewarded” for my actions or behavior. Still, I don’t think I am more worthy than anyone else, but it looks like I am doing something that impacts so much that I am rewarded.
The last reward surprised me so much that I decided to share the content here.
On Saturday, I got a really nice gift: my cheese offered at the creamery counter of a store. Yet I didn’t ask, pray or beg for anything… It just seemed that I was being human.
I then had to ask for more explanations because I did not understand what I had done to receive this kind gesture;
And what a surprise when I discovered the cause.
What earned me this beautiful gift was simply that:
- I had agreed to be served by a young man who was just starting his first day at work and I had not complained or made any comments about him taking his time
- I even talked to him about how his first day was going
- I had been patient when the young man was taking time to find and cut my cheese
- I had smiled and was quite happy while he had to ask his senior colleague to show him how to cut my Cheddar
- I wished him good luck in his new job, smiling
Whereas previous clients had apparently not been so patient, collaborative and even started insulting the youngster and his manager.
This little story is the illustration of what I find inadequate in our current world and society.
Since when do we expect a person to be an expert in a skill without having trained or practiced this skill?
Since when do we expect people not to take time to acclimatize and take control of their new functions?
Here is a magnificent paradoxical injunction…
And what scares me the most is when has humanity become such a rare commodity that it is rewarded?
So I decided to share with you a little “trick” that I sometimes use to make sure that my behavior or my reactions are aligned with my own values.
I imagine that the person in front of me is a person I love very much, in the case of this young man, I thought of my 14 year old son. And I behave as I would like people to behave with this person I love.
If this little sharing can already allow the day of one person to be embellished then I would have achieved my goal.
Vanessa Humphreys 