KEEPING A SWEET ATTITUDE IN DIFFICULT SITUATIONS
Keeping a sweet attitude in difficult situations is not easy. However, it is very important.
Last night, the dish guy didn’t show up to work his shift. My manager made a bunch of calls, but nobody could/would come in.
So, I volunteered. Fortunately, I had only worked at that job for an hour, when my manager pulled me off. “We need you on the floor, serving,” he said. I didn’t argue! I have a lot more appreciation for dish people now.
Sure enough, we were very busy in the dining room, with a lot of guests. The whole evening was like that, until about forty-five minutes before closing time, when we went fairly dead.
Then, there was a massive amount of bussing, out-work, and silverware to do. By the time this sixty-five-year-old body was out the door at 10:20, it was aching from the waist down.
But I think (hope?) that I kept a sweet attitude in all this. That is important for a number of reasons.
A sweet attitude honors the guests. They should be made to feel appreciated, no matter how busy or stressful or chaotic things are for me/us. Who knows what they are going through? Perhaps they’ve recently lost a loved one or a job, maybe they are struggling with depression, or they may have just had a really stressful day themselves. A caring and calm attitude on my part may help turn their evenings around.
A sweet attitude may be helpful to my fellow food service folks. Getting out of sorts with guests, with my coworkers, or myself is dishonoring to those I work with. Just as with our guests, I don’t know what they are struggling with, either. I know my own problems and struggles. I should suspect that my coworkers have their own problems and struggles, which may be far worse than my own little issues.
A sweet attitude honors myself. I feel worse when I become stressed and crabby. Why should I do something that makes me feel even worse?
Finally, keeping a sweet attitude honors God. If God lovingly accepts me as I am, with all my past horrendous sins and crimes against humanity, if God lovingly accepts me now, with all my only-too-real failings, then why shouldn’t my attitude be sweet?
Oh, don’t get me wrong: It isn’t easy. It isn’t for me, and it isn’t for you. Sweet fruit is not native to my personal climate. It probably takes a lot of cultivation and nurturing in your soul-garden as well. The only thing I can do is to continually pray that God will nurture a sweet spirit within me, and expect God to come through. But the desire to have a sweet spirit is at least a beginning.
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