The other day Carolyn and I were in the checkout line at Safeway with a few modest purchases when we happened to comment to the man behind us who had three pumpkin pies from the Safeway bakery, saying they looked really delicious. He beamed at the compliment, telling us that he had Safeway bake them up special for him. There was no indication on the packing that they were customer baked or being held for someone so I thought maybe he was pulling our leg. If he was, he never let on even after the checker scanned one of his pies while sending a runner to get one for us. Ours looked exactly like his and certainly wasn't "pre-ordered".
The incident got me thinking, however, that maybe we'd all be happier if we just assumed that everything is being done the way we'd ordered it. You know, "I called up Wal-Mart and asked them to stay open until 10:00 tonight so I won't have to rush over there." "I asked the library to keep a collection of newly arrived books so I can browse those first." "I've made an arrangement with the IRS to notify me early to start working on my income tax return. You know how I like to get it done early."
Set your expectations so they'll be met and you can't help but be happy.
No comments:
Post a Comment