Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Saturday, November 05, 2011
Want to Get Ahead? Go Last! or Right of Way Doesn't Mean Right Away
They ran out of numbers at the deli counter today. I could feel the collective tension of muscles ready to spring from the people left waiting to order as if they were on the promenade deck of the Titanic as the last life boat was manned. This frantic woman who came after me asked me as I was poised to be served, "Are you ahead of me?" She knew I was as I had been standing there already when she arrived. I said, "Yes, but I am in no rush. Please go ahead." To which she replied, "I will. Maybe in my next life I can be like you." And she didn't risk losing her new spot by saying thank you. That came after she placed her order. By the time someone was free to serve me, she was already a pound of salami ahead of me. And guess what? My clerk finished both my orders while the woman was still waiting for her roast beef and I left before she did. By waiting I actually got the faster clerk that could have been hers. Being gracious or yielding your right of way doesn't meant you end up last. And waiting can actually get you ahead. I think this story should be mandatory reading at all DMV's in Miami-Dade.
They ran out of numbers at the deli counter today. I could feel the collective tension of muscles ready to spring from the people left waiting to order as if they were on the promenade deck of the Titanic as the last life boat was manned. This frantic woman who came after me asked me as I was poised to be served, "Are you ahead of me?" She knew I was as I had been standing there already when she arrived. I said, "Yes, but I am in no rush. Please go ahead." To which she replied, "I will. Maybe in my next life I can be like you." And she didn't risk losing her new spot by saying thank you. That came after she placed her order. By the time someone was free to serve me, she was already a pound of salami ahead of me. And guess what? My clerk finished both my orders while the woman was still waiting for her roast beef and I left before she did. By waiting I actually got the faster clerk that could have been hers. Being gracious or yielding your right of way doesn't meant you end up last. And waiting can actually get you ahead. I think this story should be mandatory reading at all DMV's in Miami-Dade.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)