My job involves quite a lot of face time with the general public so I occasionally run into people I’ve met through work. It’s always the usual “Oh, how far, can’t stop, see you later” kind of thing.
On one particular occasion last week, I was out with a colleague at one of our other branches and as we were walking past a conference room, a man suddenly got up and started waving and smiling at me. I had to look behind me because only a close friend would be that happy to see you and as far as I knew, I didn’t have a tall, good looking gentleman friend in his late thirties/early forties. If not for the fact that he was well dressed in a fine suit, I would have run away thinking he was a lunatic.
I moved closer to the conference room where he opened the door and finally explained that I had helped him out with a transaction a few weeks ago when he came to my office. Suddenly, I remembered the smile and it all came flooding back. It had been my first week on the job. Everything was still new and I was pretty slow dealing with customers. The normal reaction was always impatience or anger but this man was just so cool about it. I remember thinking he was weird because he was just so pleasant. Is that normal? Since when did I start to see rudeness as the norm! I was actually discussing this with ISHA and she noted that people are generally not that nice to each other anymore especially in Jand and Yankee. I got used to seeing people walk straight past a person clearly in need of help...like 'This is none of my business'. Over here, at least someone would stop and ask what the problem is.
The encounter was short, all he wanted to say was hello and ask how I was doing at work. He was so genuine. I really hope I gave the right amount of kindness back but to be honest I was just in shock, lol!
Life makes you a little cynical at times. There are actually nice, decent people out there and we don’t always have to be on the defensive.
On one particular occasion last week, I was out with a colleague at one of our other branches and as we were walking past a conference room, a man suddenly got up and started waving and smiling at me. I had to look behind me because only a close friend would be that happy to see you and as far as I knew, I didn’t have a tall, good looking gentleman friend in his late thirties/early forties. If not for the fact that he was well dressed in a fine suit, I would have run away thinking he was a lunatic.
I moved closer to the conference room where he opened the door and finally explained that I had helped him out with a transaction a few weeks ago when he came to my office. Suddenly, I remembered the smile and it all came flooding back. It had been my first week on the job. Everything was still new and I was pretty slow dealing with customers. The normal reaction was always impatience or anger but this man was just so cool about it. I remember thinking he was weird because he was just so pleasant. Is that normal? Since when did I start to see rudeness as the norm! I was actually discussing this with ISHA and she noted that people are generally not that nice to each other anymore especially in Jand and Yankee. I got used to seeing people walk straight past a person clearly in need of help...like 'This is none of my business'. Over here, at least someone would stop and ask what the problem is.
The encounter was short, all he wanted to say was hello and ask how I was doing at work. He was so genuine. I really hope I gave the right amount of kindness back but to be honest I was just in shock, lol!
Life makes you a little cynical at times. There are actually nice, decent people out there and we don’t always have to be on the defensive.
He may not have completely restored my faith in mankind but with that little gesture, that man totally made my day.
