Missed Opportunities

Judgement, we try to use it to make good decisions. Actually, most often we want to make the BEST decisions. But, there are times that our insecurities, unknown future, and need for approval from others sneak in and cloud our judgement. It budges in and pushes our wisdom and goodness aside. And there in lies poor judgement, and our not-so-best decisions are made.

There have been small moments in the shop the last few months that echo this point. Specifically two today;

Exactly six months ago today, a man came in and found a vest he really liked. Unfortunately we did not have his size at the time, so we arranged to order one in for him. This process usually takes no more than a month. Well, a month went by and we still hadn't received the order. After speaking with our supplier, we had to let the customer know that we could not know for sure when the vest would be in, as they were having some factory and logistics complications. We told him that we would still call him when they came in, and that he was not obligated to take the vest. At this point we assumed it might be only another month. Well that brings us to today. The vests came in, six months from the order date! Surely, this man would have forgotten about it, and have found something somewhere else. Goodness, wouldn't it be silly if we called him and told him that they were here now! What would he possibly think!?!

Judgement, do we want to use our feelings of insecurity...

Better judgment...push those feelings aside. What is a GOOD thing to do?

Karen-Mom picked up the phone and dialed his number. His wife picked up, and exclaimed with joy how he had just been talking about this vest, and that we would probably see him later on in the day!

Sure enough, he came by, and was soo happy with it, that he wore it out right away!

This next special order didn't have any shipping delays, thank goodness! A young man placed an order for a pair of cowboy boots. He was soo excited about them, that one day he was in showing his buddy which ones he was going to be getting! The boots show up, and we call letting him know they are here, it takes him a little longer to come get them, so we give him a reminder call. He comes in to purchase the boots, and there are some card processing errors,(and let's be real people, this happens to ALL of us. Yes, even YOU). So he was going to check with his bank what was up, and come back for them. We didn't hear from him for a couple of days. We contemplated giving up, and putting them out on the shelf. 

The internal dialogue went something like this;

"He probably didn't realize how expensive they would be," or "He spent all his money somewhere else."

"REALLY? That's what it has come down to, eh?"

"Is that fair?"

"Why not call and ask HIM? Instead of deciding for him. What's the worst that can happen? You might look silly. So? Well, maybe it's his fault for...for what?"

I called. He didn't answer. I left a message, asking if he still wanted the boots.

You wouldn't believe it! HE CALLED BACK! He did still want the boots, and if we could please still hold them.

Today, he picked them up.

So what happens when our feelings turn our good judgement into poor assumptions? We miss out. Maybe we miss out on a sale, sure. But we miss out on soo much more. We miss out on the opportunity to be fair and kind and good. We miss out on the opportunity to connect with people, build relationships and to show people that they are remembered. 

At what cost is it to us, to pause and ask ourselves, is this good, is this right, is it fair? Or is this just me being...what's the word...self-absorbed?

Just think what it would have cost us if we hadn't paused to question our judgment. The man wouldn't have had his vest and the boy wouldn't have gotten his boots. Truly though, we wouldn't have seen the smile as the fellow tried his vest on, nor would the young man be proudly marching around in his new boots.

What I am saying is, be kind, be good. Don't assume, give people a chance to speak for themselves. Give yourself a chance to enjoy other people. Don't miss out.