My husband Lou and I recently got back from an awesome vacation in the Bahamas. We were on a live-aboard (think "tiny cruise ship" but with no amenities and only 11 cabins) to the Exuma Cays (big rocks in the ocean with virtually no one living on them).
It was a fabulous trip -- probably the most relaxing we've ever been on. But like all trips, they come to an end and on the 17th we drug ourselves to the airport in Nassau and arrived 3 hours before our flight.
When the clerk finally arrived she spent the first 20 minutes (yes, we timed her...there was a clock right over the desk) opening drawers and shuffling papers. To borrow a phrase from my mom the woman "moved like molasses going uphill in January." It was like watching someone in slow motion!
She finally got around to saying "next" in a barely audible voice and was barely civil when we got to her station. She wasn't exactly rude but I can tell you she certainly wasn't friendly and she didn't move with any kind of intensity. It ended up taking us nearly an hour to check in!
We've grown up hearing about "the Golden Rule" and how we should always do unto others as we would have them do unto us, but I think we should take that rule a step further and start using "the Platinum Rule".
The idea behind the platinum rule is that we treat others as THEY want to be treated...not as WE want to be treated.
If that airline ticket agent had been concerned about treating people the way they want to be treated, she'd have understood that airline passengers in general are anxious about getting ticketed and getting to security in time to make their flight. She'd have realized that there's a certain amount of anxiety in flying and made some effort to be kind and friendly to help us relax a little. She'd also have been sensitive to the fact that we're starting to get back into reality mode and that makes us start to move faster and want the world to move a little faster.
She appeared to be intent on treating us in a way that SHE'D want to be treated rather than as WE wantaed to be treated at the time.
Give some thought to the signals coworkers and clients are sending you and imagine how they would prefer to be treated in your dealings with them. Better yet, how about asking them for things you can do to improve your relationship?
I think it would be easier to show our neighbors we truly care for them at work if we raised the Golden Rule to platinum.
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