A few years ago I was in Las Vegas on my way home from a speaking gig. When I got to the airport, I found out that my flight had been delayed which caused a bunch of us to miss our connecting flights. I tend to be calm about these sorts of things because there really is no use getting mad about it. In fact, I was cracking jokes to the woman in back of me to lighten the mood a bit.
The gentleman in front of me, however, was so mad that I could almost see steam coming out of his ears. The yelling and screaming was so loud everyone in line was now staring at him. The woman at the desk was doing her best to calm him down, but nothing she said appeased him. He spent about 10 minutes banging the counter with his hand and yelling at her. Eventually he stormed off. As I watched him go, I wondered why on earth would you yell at the person who has the power to get you home?
Since I was next in line, I walked up to her counter and immediately noticed that she was doing everything in her power to keep from breaking down in front of me. She was so distraught that her hands were shaking! My heart melted. So I put my bags down and looked her right in the eyes. I then told her to take as much time as she needed to get herself together because I was sure her supervisor wasn’t going to let her go on a break. I then started to gently talk to her while she wiped her eyes and took a few deep breaths.
We chatted about the man and his situation for a few minutes until she had calmed down. I got her to laugh about it and she was able to move forward. She then put me on a flight and I headed towards my gate. As I walked, I looked down at the ticket and was stunned when I saw that had given me a seat in first class! Plus there was a certificate that bought me dinner in the airport.
As I’ve said many times … what you put out in this world, you’ll get back. It’s a boomerang. Put out bad, you better learn to duck because that’s coming right back at you.
Being nice to people and showing them kindness is the key to getting where you want to go.
People might not remember what you said, but they’ll never ever forget how you made them feel.
Until next time!
Katharine
