On Sunday, my father and I went to the Popeye’s Chicken to pick up dinner because, of course, nobody wants to cook on Mother’s Day. When we got there, the line was out the door, and there were about 20 people working at the store.
Right off the bat, we noticed some guy having an argument about mashed potatoes with the girl at the register. I didn’t get all the details, but this guy was determined to make his point and no amount of reasoning from the counter girl could slow him down. What I got out of it was the fact that he phoned in his order ahead of time and at the last minute added to or changed his order to include mashed potatoes. It’s not even clear what the guy wanted, because his order was correct– I think he was just out to prove he was right about something. The counter girl seemed to legitimately care about solving this guy’s problem, and in a moment of either brilliance or frustration looked at him and said “Okay, sir, you’re right. Is there anything else I can help you with?” The guy said “No,” picked up his bags, and left.
The next guy wanted to use his credit card. This particular Popeye’s doesn’t take credit cards– they installed an ATM from which you get a voucher and take it to the register to pay. There was a sign on the counter pointing this out. This is a PITA way of doing business, but I’m sure they did it so they could turn an expense (the 1%-3% they would pay for processing credit cards) to income (the percentage of the transaction fee on the ATM). The counter girl pointed the guy to the ATM and he was (understandably) annoyed, so now there’s another delay for those of us in line. He got his voucher, paid, and was on his way.
More grumbling from the chicken-challenged masses standing in line.
The next few customers didn’t have problems, and the guy in front of me decided to use the ATM before getting to the register, thus sparing us all the delay.
When we got to the register, I ordered the 22-Piece Family Meal. Without looking up, the girl asked “for here or to go?” I looked at her, then at my dad, then back at her and smiled. She grabbed my arm and started laughing. I asked if we looked like we were that hungry. Then, other people behind the counter and a few customers started laughing. The mood of the place changed immediately, and the churning fast food experience became a little nicer.
The point here is not to say I’m some kind of hero because I cracked up a fast food place with a lame joke– the point is that you can often create your own (and others’) experience depending on how you handle a situation.
I’ve never understood people who walk through life with clouds over their heads. Spending your life waiting for the next thing to go wrong or assuming everyone is the adversary seems like an extraordinary outlay of effort for very little gain.
In my life I’ve associated with people whose goal was to work every angle of the system and take whatever they could grab. Many of these people automatically thought the worst of people by default, and that someone else’s misfortune was nothing more than an advantage for them.
My preference is to assume the best with people from the start. It may be a na