Not long ago I was patiently waiting in line at a grocery store’s deli for an item, when I had the unpleasant experience of witnessing a very impatient and overly rude customer. The customer was verbally berating the deli worker to “hurry it up” with her order and to make sure she didn’t “screw it up”.
The worker who was by herself behind the counter was clearly struggling to complete the rude customer’s excessive demands. At one point she even turned around and expressed her outrage to me; to gain some sort of approval for her ridiculous behavior. I simply gave an obvious fake smile and looked down in silence refusing to reply to such a despicable display of unwarranted rudeness.
I was next, I placed my order and upon receiving it I made it a point to thank the deli worker for her excellent service. I also made sure I expressed my satisfaction of the Deli Worker’s performance to the Store’s Manager before leaving.
Driving home after that incident, I felt great, not just for being kind to the deli employee, but also refraining from giving the rude woman a few choice words for being so cruel.
In short, I had a few options at that time to react, but I chose instead the positive option.
In any business, you will have to deal with rude customers, clients, prospects, vendors, co-workers, employees and even members of management and sometimes even on a regular basis.
This is sometimes just a reality, in which depending on your position, leaves you very few options. But, in fact you do have an option; The Positive One.
The next time you encounter negativity in a situation, don’t lower yourself to the level of the rude individual. There’s already enough negativity in today’s business climate and society; choose the right option, the positive option!
You will find, what starts as a positive effect in the work place, will eventually find its way into our personal lives, couldn’t we all benefit from a little more positivity in our lives?
-Dan Vathy-
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