Friday, July 14, 2006

Big Man, Small Pond

Greg has pointed out in the past that when one is really into blogging, one begins to look for people or situations to become blogs. Or as one of Greg’s members once said when Greg asked him a question, “Oh no, I’m not becoming a sermon illustration.” Unfortunately the subject of today’s blog doesn’t get a choice and he really doesn’t deserve it due to his behavior.

BTW – Before I go any further let me say:
1. This event occurred while Greg and I were buying health food, I mean doughnuts yesterday.
2. Greg being the gracious person that he is, immediately claimed “first blogging” rights as we walked back to our car.
3. Later, Greg relented and decided to include me in a little blog / witness experiment.
4. The conditions of our little experiment provide I post this blog without looking at Greg’s post, which will be on the same subject.
5. It should be interesting to see how our 2 eyewitness accounts coincide or contradict each other.

Here goes – Yesterday as Greg and I walked into “Angels Doughnuts” we were witnesses to a man, a “little” man in character” in my opinion, throwing a fit over a cheese, ham, and egg croissant. Apparently the man had consumed the croissant and was now complaining about the amount of or lack of egg, cheese, and ham in his croissant.

In his protesting he even tried to draw us into his pity party by pointing out to Greg and me that the owner / operator apparently couldn’t read his own sign that advertised the ingredients in question of his croissant. Greg and I chose to ignore him and the storeowner was displaying the patience of Job. He offered to make him another croissant free of charge but the man insisted he be given his money back along with the receiving of an additional croissant.

I couldn’t help but think of the phrase “big man, small pond.” I don’t know the economical or working status of this individual and I might have been a bit more sympathetic to his cause if he hadn’t consumed the first croissant.

I also thought of Jesus at the Last Supper. If he had the mind set this man had, I could almost imagine Jesus yelling at this Disciples at this last meal they would share, screaming, “I need your full faith, not just the measly, puny, unfulfilling faith you’re going to display in just a few hours when I’m arrested.

But knowing that was going to happen anyway Jesus gave all of us a lesson in our “customer / service / demand what you have coming to you” society. Take the position of not just a servant, but also the lowest servant when you serve one another.

The hero of yesterday (wasn’t Greg or me) was the storeowner who never raised his voice and kept his cool in the face of very un-servant like person.

// posted by cwinwc @ 8:37 AM
Comments:
Hmmm, you told it better but Greg's site is more readable, easier on the eyes. I call it a draw!
# posted by Blogger Tommy : 3:51 PM
 
I read this on a day in which I got in the mail an invitation to a seminar titled "How to Deal With Difficult People." For $99.00 you can go to this and learn how to handle this guy. Maybe the store owner had been there. Sure sounds like it.
# posted by Blogger Keith Davis : 5:37 PM
 
I definitely like your telling of it better. I especially like how it's in red font and underlined. The only thing that would make it better is to capitalize everything (and photoshop Greg's face on to Moe's body.)
Seriously, when I see that kind of thing happen (and it happens way too often) I always make a point of speaking to the one who was being verbally abused and tell them how well they handled the situation. (Note: never confront the abuser - especially in Memhis - if they're stupid enough to act like that in public, they might just have a gun in their pocket - especially in Memphis.)
# posted by Blogger John Roberts : 6:06 AM
 
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