Peace of Mind Is the Price For Not Keeping My Word
Last modified 1 day, 3 hours ago.
I was walking through the mall when a kiosk worker said, ‘Hey man! Nice shoes! Let me show you how to keep them clean.’
Initially he seemed sincere and pleasant enough, so I thought, ‘Ah, alright, I’ll be sociable and a bit pleasant myself.’ I stopped by the kiosk, put my foot up onto the stand. The fellow promised to leave my shoe looking good as new. (My guard was down–I was just enjoying a walk through the mall, after all).
But I wasn’t up for the full shebang. I asked if he could clean just part of the shoe to show me what the product could do.
He said, ‘No.’ He insisted he had to clean the whole shoe.
Big mistake in a little moment! I did not keep my word! I let my ‘no” mean ‘yes.’ I reluctantly let him clean the whole shoe.
He passed me the bottle of product. I asked how much, because my shoe was looking pretty decent.
He said, ‘Sixty dollars.’ (Along with some mumbo jumbo about how he’s gotta make a buck).
I said, ‘That’s not in my budget?’
He said, ‘What’s your budget?’
I again was weak with my word. I said, ‘I don’t know, I have to think about it. I am slow to make decisions.’
(I should have said, ‘It’s none of your business. I’m leaving. Have a good day.’ But, being too much of a “Nice Guy,” I didn’t.)
He upped the ante and said, ‘Ah, you’re slow. I can see you being in special ed.’
I don’t like being called stupid.
He asked for a gratuity. Well, I figured he did clean my shoe after all. I offered him a few dollars of gratuity.
He refused and said, ‘I don’t take less than five dollars. If you give me less than that, that means you don’t really want to give me anything.’
Alas, I was in the midst of an unpleasant hustler. But it started with my own wishy-washy behavior. I said, ‘yes,’ when I really wanted to keep walking and do something else.
I walked away with a knot in my stomach from dealing with that punk. But it was a beautiful reminder from a small, everyday moment...
Keep my word--mean what I say, and say what I mean.
PS--If it's not a "Hell Yes," then let it be a firm "No."