Random Thursday Thoughts
Uhhh not so fast…
In Sunday’s message I said that we need to do the 1 or 2 things we do best at work and then delegate the rest to someone else. Today I learned that the one exception is when there is a fire…then it becomes your job.
We had some guests in the building earlier and they stopped by my office to ask me if it was normal for the mulch outside to be smoking. I’m not the smartest guy in the world but even I figured that was probably not a good thing. Sure enough right outside the main doors the mulch was smoking. I figured just a few stomps and we’d be good to go…uh no….it just made it worse in fact now it was on fire. I ran and got a bucket full of water, dumped it on it…and it got worse…flames were now visible. Another couple of buckets and it was out…but now I reek like smoke.
My theory is that after a funeral this morning, someone flicked a cigarette into the mulch and it burned down underneath…the bricks and block all around were incredibly hot so it had been burning for awhile. My disturbing the pile only provided more oxygen and it took full flame.
The lesson is this…it’s never a good idea to throw a lit cigarette into mulch. Even better…don’t smoke. Someone once asked me if smoking would send them to hell. I replied, “Probably not but you sure will smell like you’ve been there.” Speaking of smelling…think I’ll head home to shower and get the smell off of me…so much for a productive day.
One of my least favorite words…
I needed to return something on Friday to Circuit City so I could exchange it for something else. Upon trying, the clerk informed me that she couldn’t do it because there return policy was 30 days and I had bought the item 31 days before. I asked her if she was really going to make a big deal out of 1 day? She said, “I’m sorry, I can’t do it.”
Ah, the word can’t. It’s definitely one of my least favorite words right up there with sin, liver, committees and “spaghetti dinners” (Ok, that was 2 words but I couldn’t resist). Most of the time “can’t” is just a code-word for “won’t”. I absolutely hate to be told I can’t do something or it can’t be done for me. Usually it just drives me to prove the person wrong.
Where am I going with this? Well before you use the word “can’t”, make sure you’ve explored all the options. Are you saying you can’t because it’s the easy way out, or is it legitimately something that for right now can’t be done. Most times you’ll discover that if you get creative, you can figure out a way to make it happen.
So how did the Circuit City story? With me politely thanking the clerk for doing her job and informing her that although she couldn’t I was pretty sure her manager could. The result…I got my item exchanged and we all lived happily ever after sinning by serving on committees, eating liver and spaghetti.
Two questions for you…what word do you hate? Also, give an example of a time you were told that something couldn’t be done but yet you proved the critics wrong.