This morning, I went to the post office to mail a package and buy stamps.
This meant that I would have to wait in a long line, but I was up for it … I thought.
The line was long, with maybe 15 seniors ahead of me … but even though there are 4 “windows” at our post office, there were only 2 clerks.
Directly behind me in line was a young mother … holding a toddler while pushing a large stroller … trying to balance several packages on top of her stroller.
I mentally told myself, “When it’s my turn, I’ll let that mother go ahead of me.”
While we were waiting, a third clerk appeared and began waiting on customers on the far left side.
After interminable waiting, a customer left the third clerk’s station, and I was next … but first, I let the struggling mother go ahead, and she thanked me as she passed by.
I assumed she would go to the clerk on the left, but as she passed me, the middle window opened up, and she stopped there … so I went to the clerk on the left … who had now disappeared without warning.
I waited … and waited …and heard someone talking on the phone.
Finally, that third clerk appeared, and when she saw me, she asked, “Did I call you over here?”
I was startled.
I asked her, “What would you like me to do?” I tried to explain that her window had been open … I didn’t know it had closed … I thought she would be there when I arrived … but she didn’t care.
Maybe I was supposed to wait until she said, “Next!”
I had violated some sort of unwritten protocol … like when George and Elaine visited the Soup Nazi and were told, “No soup for you!”
The clerk didn’t want to hear any explanations … and I was feeling very uncomfortable. I’m not going to argue with a government employee in public … especially since I go to that post office all the time.
So I told her I would leave her station … told the next person in line to take my place … and got back in line and waited for another – more civil – clerk.
And when I did, I overheard that clerk talk to the next customer about me … but I wasn’t going back to her window.
(I tend to be a charming and cooperative customer … unless my dignity is assaulted in public.)
When conflict arises – and it does nearly every day for most of us – God’s people need to be assertive (standing up for ourselves) without being aggressive (adding anger to assertiveness).
Theologian/author R. C. Sproul once visited a department store with his young daughter and felt that a clerk was treating him rudely. Rather than address the clerk, Sproul said to his daughter – within earshot of the clerk: “When you grow up, I hope you learn to treat people with respect and dignity, unlike this clerk.”
Have you ever said anything like that? I have … but there’s another way to handle things.
Proverbs 17:14 says, “Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out.”
Proverbs 20:3 adds, “It is to a man’s honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel.”
If you find yourself in a conflict situation, and disagreement escalates into arguing, rather than fault the other person and exonerate yourself … sometimes the wisest course is to walk away.
Especially if you find yourself inside a government building.
Proud of you Jim doing an act of kindness and keeping your cool:)! LOL
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Well, you know the truth … sometimes I don’t handle those situations very well. Sometimes I feel like an intrusion to certain clerks and checkers, but they exist to serve us!
Glad you understand …
Jim
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We live in a world where we have to actually tell people to be nice to customers. I teach a class for Wendy’s called Extreme Customer Service. In that class I remind our employees that Dave Thomas taught us to “just be nice”. The difference between our restaurants and the post office is that post office employees are not worried about losing their jobs…but dealing with customers is not just about keeping one’s job. It’s also about how we relate to other human beings. I feel sorry for that clerk, she must be a very unhappy person to treat you like that.
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I worked for McDonald’s for two LONG years in my late teens, and worked the window for 4 months … but because I just couldn’t do suggestive selling, I was transferred to another station. But during that time, I learned how to treat customers, and I expect to be treated well wherever I go. In this case, there is no written rule inside the post office that says, “Only come to my station if I call you over.” It was an awkward situation, and I was blamed for the clerk’s response afterward. The upshot is that I will endeavor to buy my stamps somewhere else (like the ATM at my bank), but I still have to go to that post office to mail packages. I’ll just avoid getting the Catty Clerk!
I wish you could teach other clerks how to treat customers as well … service is very hit and miss these days, and many clerks have no personality!
Jim
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