Years ago when I first saw the Toyota Prius I thought………..how ugly. So when a friend asked me what I thought of her new car I told her how “unique” I thought the car was.
Phew! Got away with that one. But let’s face it, everyone has found themselves in a situation where they had to offer a less than accurate response to our true thoughts and/or feelings.
Today I share with you how that could get your head bit off.
“Rich, do you own the silver Subaru in the parking lot?” says Jason.
“Yeeeep” I hesitantly replied.
Oh no, this is not going to be good. Did I forget to engage the emergency brake? It’s been a while since I’ve done that one.
“Some woman is looking for you. She scratched your car” he tells me.
Okay, well at least it’s an honest person who didn’t run away. Aittle bit of rubbing compound and maybe it will be good as new.
She comes over to me, immediately apologizes and says she scratched my car.
This stuff happens. No big deal. In the grand scheme of things that have gone on in my life and things going on in this world, like employees being fired for wearing orange clothing, what’s a scratch.
I walked out to my car to do that exchange of information thing; realizing that world domination was off the radar for today.
“Scratch!!!!!!!!”
“Scratch!!!!!”
Yeah, I kinda lost it.
“You took out both doors!”
So much for being calm about the whole thing.
“I apologized for scratching your car” she says.
“Lady, I’m not upset that you hit my car. HIT! Accidents happen. I’m also very appreciative that you came inside. But your choice of words was way off base here and I can only hope the next time you choose words to describe a situation you choose words that more reflect the truth. You needed to come inside and tell me you hit my car; not scratched it. My reaction would have been very different.”
She apologized for her poor choice of words. I accepted, apologized for my outbreak, and we shook hands.
Believe it or not there is still a large contingent of folks who want to hear the truth; nothing sugar-coated; and who appreciate candid honest words. Now we’re not looking for condescending and arrogant behavior, but we are looking for the truth. Nothing worse than hearing a boss/friend/lover/CEO or lady who “scratches” your car play word games. Especially in those cases where they think they took us for one and we’re sitting there like “who you kidding.”
On a more positive note, her insurance company (Travelers) impressed me. This took place at 10:00 this morning. Their adjuster left my office at 3:45 this afternoon; less than 6 hrs after the “scratch” occurred.
Price to repair “scratch”: $1,350
Price of a lost day of work…….Priceless.
