A day filled with an extra chill along with the misty rain seemed to bring out the dark sides of many. It’s interesting how moods change with some simply because of the weather. There have been many people over the years whom I’ve known to experience as sort of mental metamorphosis whenever the gray and dark days arrive. There was one summer a number of years ago where there were so few warm sunny days that everyone waited for summer to arrive and it didn’t. While still in everyone’s memory at the time, I referred to it as the year we had no summer. That was the year I actually became accustomed to the gray days and found those few sunny days to be visually annoying.
I encountered another situation today whereby someone made oily assurances to me which didn’t happen. I really do tire of people like these and wish they would stay as far away from me as possible, but no farther. Since I have to remain a professional, I had to hold my tongue to keep from delivering a stinging piece of my mind. Whenever I hear people speaking about helping someone in a situation, I simply step back and look at the whole picture which gives the real story. In my mind I consider them thinking something like this, “I’ll help you as long as I can help myself.” I’m not referring to a free-willingness to go an extra mile for clients or customers when quirky problems arise, but rather people making all these grand promises which they know from the beginning they’ll never keep. And of course the real zinger is when I hear people pulling out the religion card with their clients or customers. Really? Does one have to dig so deeply that they have to involve religious beliefs during their courses of business? I was being a bit acid with a dear client several days ago in saying to her, “Churches are sprouting up everywhere and yet there continues to be so many who aren’t Christ-like?” No response.
All I can say, is that every day I’m eternally thankful in having for the most part, very loyal and faithful clients and customers. Believe me, it’s not something that happened overnight. The foundations of good and lasting relationships is built on trust as well as a sincere wish for the best of others. Placing oneself first is not how it should be, but rather placing a client or customer first and foremost. The rewards are simply by-products of performing good jobs.
For a number of years I was closely affiliated with a family we’ll call the Mironeys. Interacting with that family long enough, and especially having the opportunity to watch them from the sidelines, gave me the opportunity to start seeing repeating patterns. The patriarch of the Mironey family was always filled with chitter-chatter on subjects of which he knew little, yet puffed himself up as a peacock in the presence of his immediate family and cause them to believe he to be very knowledgable. After long years of marriage, his wife likely finally caved to his pseudo-intelligence along with their children. They managed, in very dark ways to get everything they wanted simply by pressuring and posturing their other older relatives. I learned their only real desire was to bend their weaker minded relatives into placing them at the forefront of their legacies, and it worked. Remembering many incidents that went on in that family, I will likely write a book some day and name one of the chapters, The Tales of the Toadeaters.
