Walking down the street recently I met Old Yeller.
Except this time it wasn't a dog.
Her name was Cathy.
She is a mom, a real estate agent, a volunteer and a customer of Bank of America.
I learned all this in three minutes.
And she doesn't seem to be happy about much of anything.
I was standing in line behind her at an ATM.
There was one person in front of her.
Cathy, as she announced herself in a barking tone to the person on the other end of the phone, was yelling over the fact that someone in their office could not get his or her act together and get the property listed correctly.
Now personally I don't care where Old Yeller fell in the company food chain, but if I was the person on the other end of that call I would have told her to calm down and call me back when she had a drink, lunch, or intimate relations.
But I'm thinking whomever was on the other end of the phone was obviously used to this.
Next that wonderful soul got to put up with Old Yeller going off on how the copies of the handouts for her networking meeting were screwed up and how sick and tired she was being a volunteer.
Old Yeller then moved to the ATM; she turned around screaming at the kid who didn't take his receipt and pulled her daughter alongside her and loudly told her not move out of sight.
I looked to the sky; waiting for lightning to start striking.
She proceeded with her transaction and her phone conversation.
Next she went off on how slow the ATM Machine is and what a waste of her time and Bank of America is not going to be her bank for much longer.
The daughter was mortified.
I was mortified for the little five year old girl who will probably need therapy some day, if she is not already enrolled.
I was imagining the person on the other end of the phone rolling their eyes or covering the voice piece and sharing with everyone else in the office how "whacko Cathy" is having one of her episodes.
Because let's face it, that is what happens.
You know it.
I know it.
We've all seen it happen.
She finished her transaction and walked down the street, still muttering and screaming about how the world is such a terrible place.
The kid who had been in front of me was still standing there - shaking his head.
We looked at each other and just burst out laughing.
It was like this tornado had just come down the street, destroyed the harmonic balance of the planet and vanished.
The kid asked me if life really gets that bad.
I commented how we're doing okay if bad photocopies and slow ATM machines are our biggest problems.
Okay so she was having a bad day, week, month, or life.
But I'm sorry, whether it's at the ATM in downtown Southington CT or in the hallways in the office, your public actions portray an image of who you are, what you're capable of, and whether or not people want to associate with you.
To this day I still remember the day someone commented to me how unhappy I was about everything.
Yikes.
It hurt.
Seems like a long time ago, but she was right; and I have to tell you I was glad to have her tell me the truth.
I was forced to go home, take a look in the mirror and make a decision.
Do I want to be seen as unhappy? Heck, screw that; isn't the bigger question not about how I am seen, but do I want to be unhappy? The answer was no.
So I got a divorce, a new job, moved away, did a whole lot of personal development stuff, and started a new life.
In the July 16th post of my blog, I was sharing about a friend who was denied a promotion because of her communication style.
She's direct and assertive; she's not a yeller.
Unfortunately direct and assertive gets filtered by way too many people as condescending, mean and arrogant.
In sitting and talking about what to do with that comment she has decided to do some teamwork and communication training for her staff.
I couldn't agree more (especially since she is hiring me); I would hate to see her change.
Maybe if organizations are going to keep encouraging open communication they need to start training people on how to interpret communications as part of that policy? So where are we today with all this, I guess it's about communication.
Or is it? Maybe Old Yeller has a hearing problem? Maybe that's why she yells at everyone.
Okay ,we know it was not a hearing problem; my gut feeling is she was just having a bad day.
Too bad two others became a victim of it; at least two of us found the humor in the whole situation; and had a reinforcement regarding communication and image.
Except this time it wasn't a dog.
Her name was Cathy.
She is a mom, a real estate agent, a volunteer and a customer of Bank of America.
I learned all this in three minutes.
And she doesn't seem to be happy about much of anything.
I was standing in line behind her at an ATM.
There was one person in front of her.
Cathy, as she announced herself in a barking tone to the person on the other end of the phone, was yelling over the fact that someone in their office could not get his or her act together and get the property listed correctly.
Now personally I don't care where Old Yeller fell in the company food chain, but if I was the person on the other end of that call I would have told her to calm down and call me back when she had a drink, lunch, or intimate relations.
But I'm thinking whomever was on the other end of the phone was obviously used to this.
Next that wonderful soul got to put up with Old Yeller going off on how the copies of the handouts for her networking meeting were screwed up and how sick and tired she was being a volunteer.
Old Yeller then moved to the ATM; she turned around screaming at the kid who didn't take his receipt and pulled her daughter alongside her and loudly told her not move out of sight.
I looked to the sky; waiting for lightning to start striking.
She proceeded with her transaction and her phone conversation.
Next she went off on how slow the ATM Machine is and what a waste of her time and Bank of America is not going to be her bank for much longer.
The daughter was mortified.
I was mortified for the little five year old girl who will probably need therapy some day, if she is not already enrolled.
I was imagining the person on the other end of the phone rolling their eyes or covering the voice piece and sharing with everyone else in the office how "whacko Cathy" is having one of her episodes.
Because let's face it, that is what happens.
You know it.
I know it.
We've all seen it happen.
She finished her transaction and walked down the street, still muttering and screaming about how the world is such a terrible place.
The kid who had been in front of me was still standing there - shaking his head.
We looked at each other and just burst out laughing.
It was like this tornado had just come down the street, destroyed the harmonic balance of the planet and vanished.
The kid asked me if life really gets that bad.
I commented how we're doing okay if bad photocopies and slow ATM machines are our biggest problems.
Okay so she was having a bad day, week, month, or life.
But I'm sorry, whether it's at the ATM in downtown Southington CT or in the hallways in the office, your public actions portray an image of who you are, what you're capable of, and whether or not people want to associate with you.
To this day I still remember the day someone commented to me how unhappy I was about everything.
Yikes.
It hurt.
Seems like a long time ago, but she was right; and I have to tell you I was glad to have her tell me the truth.
I was forced to go home, take a look in the mirror and make a decision.
Do I want to be seen as unhappy? Heck, screw that; isn't the bigger question not about how I am seen, but do I want to be unhappy? The answer was no.
So I got a divorce, a new job, moved away, did a whole lot of personal development stuff, and started a new life.
In the July 16th post of my blog, I was sharing about a friend who was denied a promotion because of her communication style.
She's direct and assertive; she's not a yeller.
Unfortunately direct and assertive gets filtered by way too many people as condescending, mean and arrogant.
In sitting and talking about what to do with that comment she has decided to do some teamwork and communication training for her staff.
I couldn't agree more (especially since she is hiring me); I would hate to see her change.
Maybe if organizations are going to keep encouraging open communication they need to start training people on how to interpret communications as part of that policy? So where are we today with all this, I guess it's about communication.
Or is it? Maybe Old Yeller has a hearing problem? Maybe that's why she yells at everyone.
Okay ,we know it was not a hearing problem; my gut feeling is she was just having a bad day.
Too bad two others became a victim of it; at least two of us found the humor in the whole situation; and had a reinforcement regarding communication and image.