Will I let this event steal my perfect day from me?

I was in the checkout line at the supermarket.

In front of me was a young, athletic man who had grabbed a sandwich from the deli section. I knew him slightly. He was an investment banker and a rising star at his firm. He had gone for a jog and was still in his sweats.

Ahead of him was an elderly lady who was carefully, slowly, very slowly giving her coupons to the checkout clerk. The clerk said that one of the coupons had expired. She countered that the shelf talker still had the reduced price on it and he should honor it. The clerk said that the price came up automatically when he scanned the item and there was nothing he could do about it.

They kept going back and forth.

I could feel the steam rising from the banker’s head. “Get on with it, lady,” he muttered. Not softly enough because she heard him.

She shot a look at him. I couldn’t make of if she was startled or angry. Perhaps she was both.

She caught my eye and nodded trying to enlist my sympathy. “How rude youngsters are these days,” she seemed to be saying.

The amount in dispute was 10 cents.

The banker told the clerk to ring up the item and offered to pay for it.

“Don’t patronize me, young man,” the lady snapped. “I don’t need your money.”

The stand-off continued. The clerk called the manager who promptly apologized to the lady and gave her the item for free. She was well pleased and maundered out.

The banker and I left the store together. “She ruined my day,” he expostulated. “Why can’t these dodderers get their act together.” He stormed off.

Has something like this ever happened to you? Did someone ‘ruin’ your day?

Nobody but you can ruin your day. Notice how the banker’s unhappiness stemmed from a deeply embedded notion that the world should unfold the way he wanted it to. Thus, persons ahead of him in a checkout queue should pay quickly for their purchase and vacate their space to him.

Sometimes, as in this case, it does not happen.

So he punishes himself by becoming frustrated and angry. Quite possibly he carried this attitude over at home and upset his wife and then had a blazing row that really did ruin his day.

Look carefully at your life.

Notice that, every time you are upset and angry, the cause is always the same. The universe is going its merry way paying no attention to your wants. Your admin messes up your hotel reservation; your client does not follow through on your recommendation and blames you; your son does not ace his math exam but wants the new iPhone you promised him as a reward anyway.

The unexpected happens more often than you would like.

Don’t punish yourself when this happens. Simply look at what has happened and ask yourself, “Will I let this event steal my perfect day from me?”

Of course the answer is “No. Heck, no!”

Do it consciously and you will never have a bad day again.

Peace!