Friday, March 6, 2009

If you can't say something nice

Just a quick entry here. Remember that scene in Bambi when Thumper gets reprimanded by his mother, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." That's been one of my mantras. I try to treat everyone with respect. If I don't get respect back, well, that's another story.
So Wednesday, I found myself in a pickle. My van got towed. I parked in a restricted area at the MAX station. I thought I was out of the area, but I obviously wasn't. So I called the guy, and asked him what I had to do to get my car back. I told him that I had never had my car towed, and so wasn't sure what the procedure was. He gave me the address and I said I would try to be there by six.
The whole thing wasn't a total loss. I got on the train, rode it to my normal station and took the bus to my apartment complex. Piece of cake.
When I told my son, his reaction was to go slash the guy's tires. I am not into tire slashing, but it seemed like a good idea anyway. We went down there and met the guy. He offered to waive the after hours fee of $40, just because it was only a few minutes after the deadline.
We talked for a few minutes, and I admitted I wasn't sure where the restricted area ended and now I knew. I asked him to total up what I owed him.
His response? "I'm not going to charge you anything."
Ohmygosh.
"You came in here and didn't argue with me, and treated me with respect. Most people don't."
He also gave me a coupon good for money off if I ever needed a tow.
So, my being nice just saved me at least $250. Not a bad return for not getting angry and nasty, which I don't do well. I run out of steam pretty quickly. I don't do confrontations well at all.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I love random acts of kindness!

Nancy Fletcher said...

Yeah!!!

Nancy Fletcher

Also, I'm glad you're singing in the ward choir. Esther volunteered to be the Alto section leader, so we'll be sending you email reminders when practice time changes. See you this Sunday at 12:20.