So I’m at the post office the other day mailing out what appears to be a record number of books and special surprises to my list of awesome clients and readers. Out of the three post-office-attendant lines, I had one of them completely shut down due to my large number of boxes. I could feel the tension in the room as the other lines continued to back up during the hurried lunch-hour rush.
I finally got all the packages mailed so I thanked my attendant Tiffany for her hard work and wished her a GREAT day and headed on my way. As I was walking past the long line of patrons toward the exit with my push-cart I saw one of the post-office attendants rapidly come from behind his station and approach a gentleman that had apparently borrowed some of the post-office packaging tape. For easy reference I’ll just call the attendant Bob and the patron Tom.
“Sir, you can’t use the tape for that.” said Bob. “Dude you need to go back to your station and do your job because all of these people are waiting for you.” said Tom. Then Bob repeated, “Sir, you can’t use our tape for your letter. Hand it to me please.” “DUDE, Back the hell up and go do your job!”
After hearing the conversation I paused for a second because I really wasn’t in a hurry to leave. I then looked over expecting to see a huge box of items that Tom was using the tape for, but to my surprise I saw three little smaller-than-standard size letters. Tom was using maybe three-cents worth of tape to bundle them together as one.
“SIR! YOU NEED TO STOP USING THE TAPE AND HAND IT OVER TO ME, NOW!!!” said Bob. Tom then squared-up in Bob’s face and yelled, “GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME DUDE! I’M SERIOUS, BACK THE F*** UP AND GO DO YOUR JOB!”
Ok, by this time I’m trying to think of a way I can help diffuse the situation. I thought that maybe if I offered the guy some of my packing tape it would be okay, but unfortunately I left my packing tape at home. And then I thought well maybe if I offered to pay for the tape maybe then Bob would concede and back off. Then it hit me. The incident had escalated to a point where Bob was probably no longer interested in just getting the tape, he was looking to save face at all cost and he couldn’t see any other way out. Yes, as you can imagine they both looked super-silly in the moment.
My wife summed it up best when she said, “Sometimes when you’re attempting to save face you’re actually losing face.” Wow, I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Well, unfortunately the drama stops at this point without any real juicy details. As it began to escalate more I didn’t stick around to see the resolution so I don’t know how it ended. I can only speculate that maybe Bob called the police to report that he was robbed at scissor point. Are maybe Tom handed over the tape and stormed out vowing never to return. Are maybe they both gave the viewing audience a beat-down fight that landed them both in the emergency room. Are maybe they both did an about-face and apologized to each other and hugged it out. Not likely I’m sure but it sure is a refreshing thought. Hmmm…
All I can say is they need to read my book “Bread Crumbs to Making it GREAT.” It talks about this very thing on page #55 and a host of others.
The take-home message for this entry today is, pick your battles wisely. Three cents of packaging tape would be a walk-away battle in my book. Remember, it always takes two to escalate a conflict so don’t be the one.
Feel free to take this Bread Crumb and Make it GREAT!
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Does your commitment have a shelf-life? Does your no-quit attitude have an expiration date? Does your stick-to-it-ness have a weasel-out clause for certain high-pressure situations and circumstances?
