Dooley Noted: 9/8/2015
Customs is not the most joyful experience by nature.
But I had just stepped off a 3-hour flight into Miami. I had another 3-hour leg to go.
I was going to be my upbeat self.
I raced up each staircase to beat the suckers on the escalators.
I pandiculated and performed 3D gait stretches and pistol squats while in line.
I hummed and breathed and felt completely alive.
I was ready to share the best version of Dooley with all the people willing to make eye contact with me.
I greeted every employee with my most gracious self.
And I noticed something.
Out of the 17 employees I greeted, 5 did not acknowledge me.
At all.
So, I chose to ask an open-question: “How are you today?”
They looked through me, as if I were an apparition.
Part of me wanted to shake them and say, “Hey! I exist. And you are in customer service!”
But I shut it down.
We must not do things just to illicit a response of our desire.
We will be set up for imminent disappointment.
We must treat people as we wish to be treated because it makes us feel great.
We must hold the door for people not because we feel we must, but because we want to do something kind.
If we are not thanked for our service, we mustn’t feel our service is for naught.
We must do as we do because of the way it makes US feel, not others.
I am learning the art of gratitude.
The people I serve don’t need to thank me. Although, it’s nice, it’s not necessary.
Whatever response they give is their choice.
It is to have limited impact on me, for I give because I love to give.
I’m grateful for the health to sprint those stairs.
I’m grateful to cross so many characters on my journey home.
And I’ll try to remember that people are going through things and may not want to respond to me.
I am warm and kind, not in order to get a response – but because it makes me feel like the best version of myself.
You can get discouraged and disappointed by an undesired response.
Or, you can carry yourself in high esteem, uneffected by the response you don’t care is coming.
As always, it’s your call.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley
