What happened to the customer is always right??? I have thought about this a lot recently. My best answer is that a few people who have not been justified or honest in their motives or complaints, and maybe have had the desire for selfish gain, have made it significantly bad for those of us who enjoy and love to eat and shop where service is kind and accommodating. We all might be lumped in the same group of “out to get someone!” I want to stop and say right here that I haven’t always been the most pleasant and patient customer.(never because of a dishonest motive of gain or to not pay for services rendered but more of just the sin of self-centeredness and impatience and wanting to meet my schedule.)
Being out and about more than usual because of Thanksgiving and Christmas, at times I have observed an environment that has been down right hostile between the customer and salesperson/waiter/waitress. On the Back 9 I have evoked the “self talk” rule. When I feel that I am a customer who is “right” but has been wronged, I say to myself, “I don’t know what is behind that frown or that sharp tone”. In my mind I make a list of reasons why the salesperson might not be so kind that day. It could be the death of a loved one, divorce, sick child, wayward child, financial stress, etc. I have learned tools that can instantly evoke more patience in me and kindness to others who are attempting to serve me, even if they make me feel they are doing me a favor.
Of course I pray. But for me, I have learned that directing my thoughts to “empathy” towards others plus understanding that there is always more to the story than what the eye can see helps me be more patient. And just plain and simply telling myself, “Sherry all of life is not about you and meeting your agenda and schedule!” I am a type A and I like to check my list off and motor away and “git-r-done!” I have had to put on my “patience pants”, and develop some self-imposed boundaries as a customer. Seeking the opportunity to really ask myself: “How would Jesus respond?” “What kind of body language would Jesus have?” “Would Jesus tip even if the service was bad?”
Taking the time to just stop and say, “I am a Christian and What if I am the only “Jesus” they ever see???” Living the verse found in Colossians 4:5, “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders, make the most of every opportunity.” OK, we all know what it is like to be in a room where someone does the “silent thing” that makes everyone look around and wonder who did that???? Well, I wish on the Front 9 I had realized that when I was in my “git-r-done” mode it sometimes left behind a not so pleasant “smell”. The shameful thing? People knew who had left behind the smell! LOL!!! In the Back 9, I desire to leave an aroma like my favorite “bond perfume,” the aroma of Christ. I desire to not be seen myself, but that the “who did it” be Christ!
2 Corinthians 2:14-16, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?”