A lady I know provides a service that most people need. She could have a fancy store, but she operates out of her small apartment where she lives with her husband and two kids. Now, if it indeed HAD been a fancy store, the working hours would've been 9-5 on weekdays. Okay, maybe Saturday as well.
Likewise, she tries to have a similar schedule for her home run business. She has taken the luxury of closing shop on Sundays. While the charges are quite nominal, she certainly doesnt make a lot. But she is trying to make ends meet, is on her feet 8 hrs a day, apart from dropping/picking up her kids from school, cooking, cleaning and every other household chore. I am sure everyone would agree- not easy, not anything new- we all live such lives. I dont plead for any special sympathy for her case.
Now the one thing I dont understand is this. Just because she runs a service out of her house, is it appropriate for one to land at her doorstep at 9pm on a week night, when she is serving dinner to her family and trying to put her school going kids to bed, and demand an emergency appointment? If every person stated his/her case and pleads for an exception, then where is the end? Also, when one knows she is taking a break on Sundays, how is it ok to call her incessantly at 9am on a Sunday morning and insist that you have prior commitments in the evening and hence need to be accomodated right away?
Has it really become so hard for us to consciously be thoughtful of another person's inconveniences? Is it really so difficult for one to put oneself in another's shoes and wonder how it feels? Have we really gone so far beyond in only thinking about ourselves and our needs and priorities that we consider someone who does us a service that for which we pay a price(however paltry it may be) has no right to their privacy? Yes, I agree she can always refuse and bang the door or the phone down, but that means she gets labelled as rude and inconsiderate! Ya, go figure!
This, by no measure, is a rant. Just a thought, so indulge me while I muse. Conscious thoughtfulness is not easy. It means we consciously think about what we are saying and how it affects/effects the other person. If we wish for others to be thoughtful to us, we need to make that effort to begin with. It all comes back to that age old phrase- if we point one finger at others, there are four more pointing back to us. By making judgement calls on how everyone else should live their lives, deriding others for their inabilities, ridiculing a certain group of people for what they are, who they are - these are all examples of how we only bring ourselves down. We forget that there is a higher power beyond all of us that can put us in the same position as these very people we judge.
And then we all complain how heartless people are and what a cruel, unjust world we all live in!
Stop the habit of wishful thinking and start the habit of thoughtful wishes.
~Mary Martin
On that note people, TGIF and have a great weekend!
~Peace
1 mint(s) of wisdom:
The thing is that we seem to be living in a world where people think only about themselves and not much about others. So if I have forgotten to do something before their appointed hours, I don't mind inconveniencing someone if I can still try and get it done for me. And yes, it gets appalling when they complain if the other person refuses to accommodate them. But then these people can't think beyond their noses you see.
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