I had an unfortunate confrontation at the office this morning that later caused me to remember an essay that I read several years ago about how people teach themselves to get what they want in a bad way.
I’m sure you’ve all heard the expression, “The wheel that squeaks the most gets the grease.” Well, there is another part to the euphemistic saying and that is, “If the wheels squeaks too much, it gets changed.”
Yesterday I made an appointment with a person who wanted to view a property. We agreed on the time I would show it and I continued on with my day until the time I was to show the unit. I waited there for about 10 minutes and figured the person wasn’t going to show so I left. In the world of real estate, this happens more often that anyone wants to admit. Unless I’ve received a call that a customer is running late, I leave after 10 minutes have passed. I attempt to do the same with most all of my appointments. If I believe I will be even 2 minutes late, I call and alert the person that I am being detained. Fashionably late doesn’t fit in my scheme of being business-like. The nickname of Mason City is River City, but really is should be called Railroad City. I bristle every time I get caught by a train moving slowly across an intersection. Getting back to what happened this morning. When I arrived at the office this morning, I found that there were messages on my answering machine from that customer. I promptly returned the call. My ears could not believe the language and verbal bashing I received for not waiting longer as well as the insinuations that I wasn’t even there at the prescribed time caused me to be even more shocked and amazed at how people think they can say anything they want and get away with it on the phone. When in business, the general public could never imagine how many times during the course of a year we must bow and accept blame when really we are not to blame.
Getting back to that article. It spoke about how a large diverse group of people took an active step to be kind, gentle, forgiving, generous and thoughtful. There was a study conducted later on these very people and it showed in a distinct way, that they lead happier and healthier lives.
So, Mason City is now part of the Blue Zone Project, but wouldn’t we really put ourselves on the map if by raising the bar on what is acceptable in social growth and human development?
