And That's What Maturity Is...

I come across positive people in my life, a lot of them, that I often only hear words of encouragements, compliments, good feedbacks- despite my not so perfect self, despite my not so perfect works, they managed to highlight only the good things in my memory. 

I seldom come across customers who give me a hard time. The last time was years ago. Heated argument, which caused by my mistake, but approved by her - and then I ended up to be the person who had to pay. Maybe we do need bitter experiences, or really tough customers to really come clean with our acts. Imagine that, years after that, which is recently, I have another heated argument with a customer, which is all about the same mistake that I did years ago. Many times that I did this mistake but it was always tolerated and forgiven. Not this time. This time I really have to face the music. 

Considering the losses that I have to bear, and the attitude of trying to find someone to share the blame with, no matter how rational I am, but the customer actually highlighted that - as someone who is sitting in my chair, I could Not make a single mistake. Not someone with my kind of experience. So I tried to resist taking the blame, until...I had to come to a silent moment seeking for God's assistance. I only asked for peace to have the wisdom to see the solution, and the puzzle was shortlived. I got my answer immediately. 

Suddenly I don't care about the losses anymore. I said I only wanted to fix this, get this over and done with, I said that no matter if I feel that I was "bullied" and "victimized" trying to bear all the cost without seeking a bit of responsibility from anyone who have led me to that mistake, I step up and champion that mistake by taking all the responsibility. 

I am naturally stubborn and hard-headed. As long as I can find reason winning, I don't think I deserve losing. So being me, if I have to go against that, I am tempted to just hate the person who puts me in that trouble, but instead of doing that, God let me see that this person is just another human who is trying to do something right. Then I'm reminded that humans are all kind to begin with. We just don't know them enough to love them. So I give my customer the benefit of the doubt and reward myself the peace. Yes, I am going to handle this right. For this Lenten season, I feel it's so timely to do the right thing, instead of being right. 

Thank you Lord for always being there for me :)

Show Them It's First Class

I am not a good salesperson. I can never talk someone down to buy something. So it's far from my qualification to advise someone in this field. But a customer, who is doing this job, is having big trouble with his way of thinking. He keeps assuming that his work is not good enough, so his customer might give him a lot of trouble. It's just so wrong.

Out of nowhere, I came up with some advice. "You can't let yourself do that, you know? What you have in your hand now is A FIRST CLASS work, don't walk and talk like it's Not. If you only have half the confidence that you are submitting the first class work, don't expect that your customer will think of it any higher than that. If you speak with your voice shaking, your customer might think there's really something wrong with your work, no matter how good it is. They'll find the reason why you are not confident and find fault in your work. That's psychology, man. You gotta learn that. You are dealing with another human, who have errors, who are careless too, so if you are slack a bit, forgive yourself. You can still bring with you this first class work and everyone will like it because it's that damn good."

There are things you don't learn in classroom. You learn from meeting with people. You can't help but pick a bit of lesson from everyone and the next thing, you know how to use psychology to get the better side of them. 

That's how they know that you might not do it perfectly, but they will still like it. The next time this guy comes, I will know if he learns it or not. I'm sure sooner or later, he will...:)) 

How An Apology Saved My Day

It was just a normal day until I got a call from my customer, using a high tone of voice, saying her dissatisfaction about the timing I set for her to pick up her order. I was quite shocked because I totally forgot that I actually agreed to the time that she has set a few days earlier. Oh gosh. It felt like getting caught redhanded doing something embarrassing. That's the feeling. So I kept my cool anyway, asking her, "So what time you can come?" She said, "4 PM". I straight away answered, "Okay, no problem." I don't think it helps if I try to compromise so I rather not. If she'd say 5 or 6, I'd comply. I tried to undo the damage I've done.

When she came, I saw her face. I knew she was mad. The first thing I said was, "I'm really really sorry for all the troubles." It was when she used a lower tone to speak to me. I tried to cover myself too by saying "If only I knew the timing was so crucial for you, I would make it happen. If only someone reminded me earlier." She agreed right away. I deserved some scolding too because I forgot something I have agreed. This is not so normal, but it was a really busy week for me. I had to forgive myself.

I don't suggest that you fake your apology to get away from someone's tantrum, No, you have to mean it. Your ego isn't important. Nothing else is more important in that very moment, except for your apology. I humbled myself, and something told me that she wasn't a bad person herself. All she needed to hear is that word Sorry. So in the end, she smiled - followed by my breath of relief. Thank you God!

Note: As long as you are dealing with another human being, chances are the person knows what it's like to be in your place and will consider your circumstances. They will accept your sorry.