I just got Sweetheart out the door and thought I'd pop in here for a quick chat. We had some GORGEOUS weather yesterday. Today will be cloudy and 75, so I can't complain about that either, considering they were calling for storms. Plans today include garage sales!!!Let's talk about my title. Have you ever done something that you wish you could take back? Something that made you feel shame once it was over?
I can say that does not happen to me....almost never. I said ALMOST. I had it happen on Tuesday. You got time, right? Ok...so, it started on Saturday. I sent my oldest son to the dry cleaners for me. Sweetheart had 3 pairs of pants and 5 shirts to go for cleaning. I always do his polo shirts here, but he said, let's get them done if they are not too expensive. I was not for that, but said nothing and sent them along. I told Bud, "If they are more than a couple of dollars each, bring them back." He came home with tickets and said they were $2.50. Hmmmm that is too much, but he had left them, so I would pay it this time and from now on, do them here. Tuesday I was out running with my mom and had her stop at the cleaners for me to grab Sweetheart's pants and shirts. I walked in to an empty store....no one was there. I heard a voice from the back shout, "I'll be right with you." No biggie...she came right up. I gave her my tickets...one for the dry cleaning (pants) and one for the laundry (shirts). The first things she said to me as she hung the cleaning on the rack at the counter was,
"There has been a problem with your cleaning."
My thought was something happened to an article of clothing. Before I could say anything she proceeded to tell me the shirts were not button down like the girl thought, so they were dry cleaned at $5.50 a piece. It took me a moment to process that. Once I did, she was ringing me up. I told her, "I hope you are not charging me $5.50 for those shirts since I was quoted $2.50." I got back,
"Um, no. It is $5.50 a shirt."
I could tell I was going to get nowhere with this girl, so I asked to talk to a manager. She huffed and said she would call her boss at the other store. She got on the phone and my mouth dropped as I heard her say,
"I have a lady here refusing to pay for her cleaning. She wants laundry prices for dry cleaned shirts."
Oh. My. Gosh. Here is where I lose it. I don't even know HOW it happened. Really, people, I am NOT like this, but I saw red! I shouted, "YOU ARE A LIAR! You tell him the truth! I was QUOTED $2.50 a shirt."
At this point my heart is beating out of my chest and I am shaking. I feel NOTHING good for this woman, who now appears to be the nastiest form of womanhood I have ever seen. I can feel the Holy Spirit pricking at my own spirit, telling me to hold on. I did not listen.
She is now off the phone telling me in words dripping of condescension, that THIS time they will give me that price, but to know that from now on, it will be FIRM that all shirts are to be $5.50.
Something inside me takes over and I let this woman have it!!!
"Listen lady, I don't know who you think you are!!!! I am not an idiot who needs to be lectured by the likes of YOU! I was given a price and had I been told $5.50 I would have gladly taken my polos home and washed them myself!!!!"
She continued in her attitude telling me,
"It is not our job to go through every article of clothing you bring in and give you prices on each item when we have 3 people in line behind you."
Heaven help her....I ripped her a new one! I was not "yelling", but I was speaking VERY FIRMLY.
"THE HELL IT ISN'T YOUR JOB!!! What is your name?? You have to be an idiot to think that way! AND, were YOU here??? I didn't think so. You are talking out of your @$$! How in God's name do you know there were 3 people in line??? The place is EMPTY now and I am sure it was then too!! And I don't care if there are FIFTY people in line behind me! If I ask a price IT IS YOUR DAMN JOB TO TELL ME!!!!!!"
She started in again saying she was told by her boss to "firmly" tell me this would be the only time I would get this price, and I put up my hand and said, "Just take my card, pay my bill and let me out of here!"
I walked out to the car and was shaking. I told my mother what happened...she was so proud of me. My mom takes crap from no one. I am not like that. She assured me it would get easier with each time. I was not happy about that. I was totally bummed. I hated myself for what I did. I had images running through my head of this girl walking into church and seeing me there. I did the only thing I could do. I called her and poured out my humility at her feet. I told her how sorry I was for talking that way to her and that I had NO right to do so. I explained that I am not that kind of person (hmmmmmmm, yet I was), and that I could have, and should have, handled her behaviors in a different way. I let her know that I felt unheard, misrepresented and that she made me appear dishonest, though that gave me no right to spew my hurtful words back at her. I asked her forgiveness. She was ready to give it and said, "You were a cakewalk compared to some others." That gave me pause, but I kept my thoughts to myself that time! I never did call her boss. I lost that opportunity with my own behavior. How could I be taken seriously after that? Sadly, I had dropped off another couple of pairs of pants there before all this happened and today I go to pick them up. If she is there I will smile and greet her cheerfully by name, and again thank her for forgiving me for my sin. I never want it to get easy. Next time, I will just take my mother in with me!!!!!!!!
I can say that does not happen to me....almost never. I said ALMOST. I had it happen on Tuesday. You got time, right? Ok...so, it started on Saturday. I sent my oldest son to the dry cleaners for me. Sweetheart had 3 pairs of pants and 5 shirts to go for cleaning. I always do his polo shirts here, but he said, let's get them done if they are not too expensive. I was not for that, but said nothing and sent them along. I told Bud, "If they are more than a couple of dollars each, bring them back." He came home with tickets and said they were $2.50. Hmmmm that is too much, but he had left them, so I would pay it this time and from now on, do them here. Tuesday I was out running with my mom and had her stop at the cleaners for me to grab Sweetheart's pants and shirts. I walked in to an empty store....no one was there. I heard a voice from the back shout, "I'll be right with you." No biggie...she came right up. I gave her my tickets...one for the dry cleaning (pants) and one for the laundry (shirts). The first things she said to me as she hung the cleaning on the rack at the counter was,"There has been a problem with your cleaning."
My thought was something happened to an article of clothing. Before I could say anything she proceeded to tell me the shirts were not button down like the girl thought, so they were dry cleaned at $5.50 a piece. It took me a moment to process that. Once I did, she was ringing me up. I told her, "I hope you are not charging me $5.50 for those shirts since I was quoted $2.50." I got back,
"Um, no. It is $5.50 a shirt."
I could tell I was going to get nowhere with this girl, so I asked to talk to a manager. She huffed and said she would call her boss at the other store. She got on the phone and my mouth dropped as I heard her say,
"I have a lady here refusing to pay for her cleaning. She wants laundry prices for dry cleaned shirts."
Oh. My. Gosh. Here is where I lose it. I don't even know HOW it happened. Really, people, I am NOT like this, but I saw red! I shouted, "YOU ARE A LIAR! You tell him the truth! I was QUOTED $2.50 a shirt."
At this point my heart is beating out of my chest and I am shaking. I feel NOTHING good for this woman, who now appears to be the nastiest form of womanhood I have ever seen. I can feel the Holy Spirit pricking at my own spirit, telling me to hold on. I did not listen.
She is now off the phone telling me in words dripping of condescension, that THIS time they will give me that price, but to know that from now on, it will be FIRM that all shirts are to be $5.50.
Something inside me takes over and I let this woman have it!!!
"Listen lady, I don't know who you think you are!!!! I am not an idiot who needs to be lectured by the likes of YOU! I was given a price and had I been told $5.50 I would have gladly taken my polos home and washed them myself!!!!"
She continued in her attitude telling me,
"It is not our job to go through every article of clothing you bring in and give you prices on each item when we have 3 people in line behind you."
Heaven help her....I ripped her a new one! I was not "yelling", but I was speaking VERY FIRMLY.
"THE HELL IT ISN'T YOUR JOB!!! What is your name?? You have to be an idiot to think that way! AND, were YOU here??? I didn't think so. You are talking out of your @$$! How in God's name do you know there were 3 people in line??? The place is EMPTY now and I am sure it was then too!! And I don't care if there are FIFTY people in line behind me! If I ask a price IT IS YOUR DAMN JOB TO TELL ME!!!!!!"
She started in again saying she was told by her boss to "firmly" tell me this would be the only time I would get this price, and I put up my hand and said, "Just take my card, pay my bill and let me out of here!"
I walked out to the car and was shaking. I told my mother what happened...she was so proud of me. My mom takes crap from no one. I am not like that. She assured me it would get easier with each time. I was not happy about that. I was totally bummed. I hated myself for what I did. I had images running through my head of this girl walking into church and seeing me there. I did the only thing I could do. I called her and poured out my humility at her feet. I told her how sorry I was for talking that way to her and that I had NO right to do so. I explained that I am not that kind of person (hmmmmmmm, yet I was), and that I could have, and should have, handled her behaviors in a different way. I let her know that I felt unheard, misrepresented and that she made me appear dishonest, though that gave me no right to spew my hurtful words back at her. I asked her forgiveness. She was ready to give it and said, "You were a cakewalk compared to some others." That gave me pause, but I kept my thoughts to myself that time! I never did call her boss. I lost that opportunity with my own behavior. How could I be taken seriously after that? Sadly, I had dropped off another couple of pairs of pants there before all this happened and today I go to pick them up. If she is there I will smile and greet her cheerfully by name, and again thank her for forgiving me for my sin. I never want it to get easy. Next time, I will just take my mother in with me!!!!!!!!
10 comments:
I give you a lot of credit Bren, I'm not sure I could have called her back. I know that I would have spoken to God asking His forgiveness, but not the phone call. You are truly the better person and I'm sure God is pleased.
Janel in NJ
hm...I would have demanded the quoted price also..but I am glad you blogged about this today. It reminded me to pick up Rich's pants at the cleaners..lol
you are not alone in this! it has happened to me before, only I was not big enough (not sure that is the right word) to call and ask for forgiveness! I appreciate your honesty and openess!
Oh Bren, don't be so hard on yourself. We all lose it once in a while. You called and apologized (which is more than she deserved, by the way) so now it is behind you. I hope things go better when you pick up the pants. Maybe you made a wonderful impression on this lady by calling her, so she can change her ways a bit too. I hope your day goes well, my friend. Love you,Winona
I've only ever cussed at one person out in public like that --- and it was my BOSS! Isn't that just awful, Bren???
She was being completely unreasonable, pushy, demanding and she was shrieking a little at me. I only said one bad word to her, and I didn't even raise my voice. But do you know later, when something happened in the office, she said, "Is that ok? I don't want you to go off on me like you did the other day!"
I had heard her cuss a blue streak at people before, and really give them the business in person and on the phone. I said the one little "H" word, and she was scared of it ever happening again! LOL!!!!
And you know what...I never did apologize. I felt that she had pushed me that day as far as she was ever going to push me. If I had not blown up, she would have pushed farther and farther and farther. If I had apologized, I would have erased that line and she would have been over it again in a heartbeat. She was just THAT personality!
I don't condone my cussing, but I do know there are times that we must stop people's advancing on our persons. They go beyond what is right and decent and appropriate and they must be put in their place.
I am glad you apologized, as it sounds like the Holy Spirit was definitely leading you to do so. I pray that the Lord will use this in her heart and life to draw her to Him. She may make light of your explosion, but she will remember your apology forever!
Thanks for sharing - from your comments here, it sounds like it really struck a chord with others.
Hope you have a good trip there today :o)
Alesha
Geez! I felt myself getting all worked up just reading your blog post. I had to refrain from yelling at my computer screen! Wowsers that gal was terrible!
Good for you for calling and apologizing later. I have to wonder though, she said you were a cake walk compared to other customers, right? So does this mean she does this sort of thing on customers all the time? Time to find a new dry cleaner. I know a good one here in CA ;)
Don't beat yourself up too terribly we all loose our cool on occassion. The point is, you had the goodness in your heart to call her and ask forgiveness.
Personally, I would have let her have it with both barrels and would have called her boss too but mostly because she lied, I HATE liers. I guess I'm more like your mom :0)
The Evil Crispy
Good for you for calling her back.
This happened to me once about 5 years ago. I stormed out of the building and then realized I was wearing a Christian t-shirt. nice testimony...uggg
Hugs
Awww, what a great testimony Bren! You are right, the post was timely!
I am so glad you called back and apologized to her. That was most assuredly spirit led!
Hugs and don't beat yourself up over it!
Blessings,
Christi
Like others have said, we're all human and will do things like this every now and then. While she WAS being arrogant and pushy, you were right to call back and ask her forgiveness and apologize. I'm so glad to read that you heard the Holy Spirit's voice at the beginning (even though you ignored it!), and then heard Him loud and clear afterward and obeyed that time. It's a huge testimony to a lost person when a person is a real enough Christian to say "I blew it; will you forgive me?"
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