You know that conversation you have where it’s purely transactional; one person wants something, and you, on the other end of the line, are the person to provide the caller with what they want. And that’s all that the conversation this is about; no pleasantries are afforded.
I heard a phone conversation like this recently. The caller was the one I heard; they are the sort of person who exists to be served. They seem devoid of anything truly transformational with which to share with another person they might be interacting with; and they didn’t share of themselves or any courtesy this time, promoting a sense of distance and arrogance as they spoke.
There’s a generalisation to make here. You might have another person in mind.
My observation is just watch their life; there’s not going to be any light in it--or to it... no sense of abiding hope, no faith to speak of, and hence an inability to love i.e. the inability to sow good things into others’ lives, and generally an inability to be a source of blessing.
Thanks like the thanks we get on transactional calls is just lip service, and it ought not to occur for people dedicated to truth. Real people should be really nice, and not fake it.
Why would we bother to say ‘thank you’ at all if we didn’t sincerely mean it?
This is a challenge to us. There are times when we are sorely tested and we don’t have the time, effort or tolerance in us to be gracious with people; especially those who’re ‘just there to serve us’ like customer service officers and check out staff at grocery stores. This is a time to take a step back and begin to again marvel at the simple things to be thankful for.
All it takes is a second of insight--to swap places with the person we’re about to insult.
We can surely do better and be really genuine in our thanks, can’t we?
Copyright © 2009, S. J. Wickham. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
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