Creatures of habit
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We’re all creatures of habit regarding one thing or another,
right? We can repeat the same behavior for months, years even, without a second
thought until something unusual happens. My father had one of those habit-altering
events recently.
Anyway, yesterday my dad had to go to McDonald’s instead. His bill was $1.67, and he learned something valuable for that additional $.60.
As he dined in a section away from the front registers and
employees, my dad saw a man ride up to the restaurant on his bicycle and park
it near the back entrance. The man looked to be around sixty years old, was
wearing torn shorts and a t-shirt, and was sweaty from the ride. He came inside
and stopped at the trash receptacles near the door, then stuck his hand inside
and pulled out a large soda cup. The man took the used cup into the restroom
where he must have rinsed it out. He emerged from the restroom and filled the
used cup with a beverage at the self-service counter.
Like many of us, my dad is a creature of habit regarding his
morning routine. He goes to Wendy’s for breakfast every day. He goes there
because the coffee is free and his oatmeal bar is only a dollar. If he had to
spend more than $1.07 on breakfast, he would be devastated! (only a slight
exaggeration)
Yesterday morning really threw off his routine. Wendy’s was
closed at 7:00am. They were closed because of a power surge or something like
that. I laughed when he told me about it because their service is always
terrible. They often don’t even have coffee during the breakfast hours, which
is the bare minimum of service at that hour, don’t you think?Anyway, yesterday my dad had to go to McDonald’s instead. His bill was $1.67, and he learned something valuable for that additional $.60.
As he dined in a section away from the front registers and
employees, my dad saw a man ride up to the restaurant on his bicycle and park
it near the back entrance. The man looked to be around sixty years old, was
wearing torn shorts and a t-shirt, and was sweaty from the ride. He came inside
and stopped at the trash receptacles near the door, then stuck his hand inside
and pulled out a large soda cup. The man took the used cup into the restroom
where he must have rinsed it out. He emerged from the restroom and filled the
used cup with a beverage at the self-service counter.
The man was not trying to rip off McDonald’s. He did not
have a sense of entitlement. He was struggling. And, he was thirsty.
My dad’s view of the man changed as he watched him. My view
of the man changed as my dad told the story too. I was less than sympathetic at
first. I jumped to conclusions about the man based on two things: he stuck his
hand in the trash and refilled a used cup. Did you jump the way I did? You
probably also realized the point isn’t that the man used a cup from the trash
but that he was thirsty.
How often do we jump to the wrong conclusions about people
and judge them negatively?
My dad realized his tendency to do that when his daily
routine was broken up. It got my attention when I heard the story. Hopefully it
hits home with a few more folks who hear it too. Perhaps we all could benefit
from breaking a few of our own habits and seeing people differently.