Thank goodness it wasn’t the cold day predicted by our weather forecasters. As I was leaving early this morning, I noticed it was already in the 20’s and rising. Finding myself running a bit late for my playing gig, I quickly grabbed my music and headed for the church. For some reason, the person who normally unlocks the church doors at a prescribed time was also late, so I just waited in my car with the heater running until he arrived.
With less than a half hour to get myself prepared for the extra playing I had to do, I quickly lined up all the music in the order which they were to be played and then went down to confirm all the selections with their pastor.
Not knowing if the pipe organ was going to be kind to me today, I found several Christmas pieces and played them as preludes. I was breathing a great sigh of relief when finding the old girl in great shape, so I decided to play three of their hymns on it, and the remainder on the piano.
Everything regarding today’s Service went exceptionally well. As chance would have it, I don’t believe I made even the slightest of mistakes while playing. When I slid off the organ bench after it was all over, I couldn’t help thinking to myself how much more comfortable I was playing for them than I’ve ever been before. Perhaps it was an internal message from my subconscious saying, “You’ll never be perfect so do your best and leave it at that.”
Just as I was walking out, one of the parishioners asked if I wanted to go downstairs for coffee. I said, “Sure, I’ll have a half cup.”, so off we went. I grabbed my half cup and went over and sat at one of their tables and started visiting with several already seated. One of the ladies at another table spoke up and announced to me, “Thank you Joe for playing “What Child is This” on the organ. It was so beautiful!”
After thanking her, several of the women mentioned that the pipe organ would likely work better if it were played more often. I couldn’t have agreed more, but unfortunately I’m only there once and sometimes twice a month, but still of the opinion that the piano also should be used just so to have a little diversity–especially knowing there are others who prefer it over the organ. I’m of the belief that in all areas of life when there are diverse groups of people, compromise is the best way to keep them all connected.
Late this morning I had an appointment which lasted about an hour, and then off to yet another. I was surprised to see several customers texting me this afternoon wanting to look at homes tomorrow. I did manage to get in touch with one of the agents, but I’ll have to place a call to the other tomorrow morning since I know for sure that particular agent doesn’t take phone calls on Sunday.
Before heading home, I stopped at HyVee to pick up a few things, and while there I ran into a dear one whom I’ve know for almost as long as I’ve been selling real estate. Since we both had time to kill, we had a very good chat on a various subjects. I was glad to find her in good spirits as well as good health.
We both had our say regarding how people who’re supposed to be fairly and squarely providing goods and services, do everything they can at times to double-dip. She gave a number of recent examples as well as myself. I was totally in agreement when she said, “In these times, so many professionals who’re working in fields that people used to trust, have to be watched all the closer just so they’re not billing for something that wasn’t necessary.” I laughed and gave her a recent example of a phone call I received from a receptionist months ago telling me what I had to do, which I knew was not necessary, and the more that receptionist tried to convince me otherwise, the more I dug my heels in until I finally said, “Just forget it! Cancel my appointment because as soon as I get off the phone with you, I’m calling another vendor.”
It all goes back to there being people in professions who think the general public isn’t educated enough to understand the workings of their businesses. Just six months ago I cancelled a service request by an un-named vendor who “thought” I didn’t understand enough about HVAC components to where I would’ve paid for something to be changed that didn’t need changing because there was a much smaller and less costly problem that was making the problem appear all the larger.
I’m reminding you all that if someone is trying to talk you into something that you have a “feeling” isn’t necessary, then back off and do your own due diligence before moving forward. You can be sure, the more someone insists there’s something wrong that has to be fixed “now”, you can bet that person is trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. About three years ago I just about got talked into replacing an air conditioning unit that only needed a small part replaced which could still be ordered from a parts house. What could’ve cost me over $3,000.00 ended up being a $175.00 fix.
Tonight’s one-liner is: It is certain that people who study revenge keep their wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well.
