We all lead very busy lives these days…..busy doing things in the fastest and most direct way possible in order to try and cram even more into our hectic lives. We invent items daily to facilitate this. We are on an ever-increasing whirlpool of busy-ness. We are online keeping up with the latest. We are enlightened in the most enlightened of ways.
But all this comes at a cost. The number of people dropping out of mainstream interstate and overseas life and coming to the perceived backwater of Tasmania, to take up a life of renovating, gardening, being self-sufficient and joining their community actively, demonstrates this.
Another cost is, to me, the most important. It is the loss of a person’s word. Call me old-fashioned but I go to great lengths to keep my word, and it pains me deeply when I can’t or don’t, for whatever reason. The way to NOT break your word to someone is simple – don’t make a commitment if you know you can’t keep it. Don’t open your mouth! Don’t promise what you know you can’t deliver.
It is commonplace nowadays to expect nothing of anyone. If a plumber says they will be there on Monday morning, are they? If you make a doctors appointment for 2.00, and don’t get to see your doctor till 3.30, what do you do? If a friend says they’ll call you tomorrow, do they?
Keeping your word is vital in today’s world. It actively demonstrates many aspects of your personality and character. It shows integrity, truthfulness and trust, big-heartedness, caring, humanity and an awareness of all others around you. It gives people security to know they can rely on you, and your word. If you are in a sales situation, you will do your job badly if no one believes what you are mouthing. In a restaurant, when I ask a waitperson what they would have if THEY were eating at the restaurant they work at, it gives me just as much idea as to what to order, as to what kind of people are employed there, and what characteristics the employer finds important in his employees, depending on their answer.
We let a lot of that go past without batting an eyelid, but I’m over it! I’m declaring 2011 a no-go zone for people expecting me to take their shit! My new year’s resolution is to call people on not keeping their word to me. I won’t stress about the general stuff, like the plumber, but restrict it to the more personal promises. And I started yesterday with a return email to someone in the business community who promised to get back to me with information I required 2 weeks ago.
An extract of my email to him yesterday reads thusly:
Hi John
Well, the Monday you referred to in your answer to me (below) on Sat 27th November 2010 below (presumably Mon 29th November 2010) has well and truly passed with my receiving no update still on my xxx blah blah blah.
Added to the above confusion (see emails below) regarding where I stand in regard to my payments made to xxx, it appears systems could do with a thorough overhaul.
I am a patient and charitable person but find these characteristics tested at times like this.
Regards
Blah
I haven’t heard back from poor John yet but I intend keeping up the pressure. So if you are one of those careless people, be warned…..
Wednesday, 8 December 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
7 comments:
Sounds good to me Rita, I'm sick of dealing with idiots who cant even respond to an email, answer a phone call etc.
Just try and communicate with Telstra or Vodaphone. The connect you to international call centres and people who cant speak english are trying to understand your problem.
I made a vow years ago to not say I would do anything I knew I probably wouldn't. {even when wine inhibits my judgement I still stick to this}.
It's too hard to find an excuse later when you realize you really don't want to be in this situation, and also life is too short to be doing things you really don't want to do... this is now my main reason!
So now I have a coupe of great rules.
One is I will never say Yes to something unless I really will do it, and I will never say anything behind your back I wouldn't say to your face. This has served me very well for a few years now but is something I learnt with many lessons and a whole lot of years.
glad to hear see you're up and about, or about any way, and also....I LOVE THE BEE GEES!!!
I love the Bee Gees too!
Which reminds me...must get back to that woman about a quote for an effing frittata!
Yes, Rita, it can be frustrating. We're awaiting a courtesy return call from a food company whose recorded message promises a return on the subject of our message within 48 hours.
That came and went a long time ago.
One can't help but think you may find yourself wasting time calling people on thier promises, time that could be spent doing things that are productive! Alot of these people will by now be very set in there ways and you calling them on thier shit will invariably be water off a ducks back! Sad but probably true!
i feel we have resorted to communicating by email alone these days and find it sad that we can not pick up the phone to communicate. Emails are easy to ignore, get lost or generally piss people off. I find the best way is to phone someone. if you actually manage to get hold of them, they cant hide or ignore you. they may not have the answer you are after, but atleast you have managed to speak to them and the fury you are feeling about an unanswered email, may have been diminished.
Post a Comment