Ungrateful people.
Many years ago, I worked for a small auction company, selling art, antiques, collectibles, and household goods.
It was one of my most interesting jobs and I stayed there for 10 years. It was hard work, physically demanding and I met a lot of interesting people.
One day my boss, the owner of the company, asked me to pick up some ceramics that he had appraised at someone’s house. The owners were pleased with a possible $3500 in proceeds and decided to sell all of it.
I made an appointment and as always, I took the necessary moving materials with me. However, when I arrived, the items were already boxed up and ready to go. The husband told me that he had decided to get some boxes from a moving company and pack everything up so they could put them safely out of the way.
He did have a request though, he asked if he could have a few of my boxes since they had some other stuff to move. I gladly handed him all he wanted, wrapping paper included. As I remember I gave him eight boxes and traded them for the five that contained the items for the auction.
The auction was a few weeks later and their goods sold very well; in fact, the total selling price was close to $7000. Nearly double what it had been appraised for.
A few days later I got a phone call from the husband. It went through my head that he was going to express his happiness with the result.
I was wrong, totally wrong. The man was madder than a hornet and for a strange reason. He complained that he never got his five boxes back, boxes that he had bought for $4 apiece.
After he calmed down a bit, I managed to get through to him and put him in his place.
“First of all, I’m not going to make a 40-mile round trip to return 5 empty boxes. Besides, you didn’t tell me that you wanted them back. At the same time, I gave you eight boxes, so why are you complaining? And on top of that, your items sold for nearly double the amount you expected so you really don’t have a reason to complain about $20.”
He still muttered a little bit and ended up saying that he would never do business with us again.
I shook my head and reported it to my boss. “Some people you cannot please, no matter what you do,” he said. That is true of course, but I can’t get met head around the fact that someone can be so ungrateful, irrational, and unreasonable.
To this day I have trouble with people who show those character traits, I guess I will never get used to it.
I will stop and help if needed.
Every now and then you will see someone on the side of the road who seems to have some kind of trouble. It could be just a flat tire or maybe being out of gas.
Many people, if not most, will not pay attention to a person in need and won’t stop and offer help. The motive for that is a familiar one: It is risky because it may be a trap.
That is true of course, some people have been robbed, physically attacked, and even killed on such an occasion.
I stop when I can, despite the risk, and see if I can help. Not only do I think that helping someone in need is the right thing to do but I also have my experience of being on the other side.
Many years ago, I was out and about doing some sightseeing and photography. I walked down a slight incline toward the road when I tripped. In my fall I already knew something was terribly wrong, I felt my right ankle snapping.
I landed on the side of the road, just a few feet from the pavement, with my ankle at an odd angle.
It happened before the age of cell phones and the only thing I could do was to flag down someone who could find a phone and call for an ambulance.
There was little traffic in the area but there were some cars going by. I waved and gestured for help, some drivers looked at me and just kept going.
Then two guys on bicycles came around the corner. I thought they would stop for sure but they didn’t. They looked at me, passed me within just a few feet and kept going while talking to each other, probably about me.
There was a school on the other side of the road, a few hundred feet from where I was. Kids were playing and a few teachers were there as well.
I yelled for help, they responded slowly by looking in my direction, even pointing at me. And no one came over to see what the problem was.
Never before in my life had I felt so helpless.
Finally, after about 30 minutes, an elderly couple on foot stopped and asked what I needed. They promised to call for medical assistance and at a slow pace they disappeared around the bend.
Soon after they showed up in their own car offering to take me to the hospital. It was well intended, but not a good idea.
I needed professional help and they drove off, looking for a phone.
About 15 minutes later the ambulance arrived and the first thing the paramedics asked was whether I had insurance or not.
Luckily, I had insurance and I asked them what they what do if I had not. Just leave me here? They didn’t answer.
Finally, after 45 minutes on the side of the road, I was on my way to the hospital.
Since then, I stop when I see someone who may need help because I know what it is like to be ignored.
I couldn’t take it any longer
After a very difficult year with many disappointments and almost becoming homeless things starting to look up.
A job offer was presented to me by the owner of a young and small with ambition and I could start almost right away. He also offered me a place to live, a small room over the office was all I needed and could hope for.
I packed my things and moved to a city sixty miles away. I started this job with enthusiasm and determination to make the most of it. I also had plenty of experience in this line of work. Previously I worked for a similar business for ten years.
However, after just a few days doubt started creeping in. Our personalities clashed and the way business was conducted was questionable at times, to say the least.
Promises were not kept either. I was supposed to be the manager, in charge of daily affairs and run business based on my experience and knowledge. But the boss turned out to be a micro manager who wanted everything done his way and there was no room for a different approach.
I was also promised to have a budget I could spend to make improvements, and that didn't happen either. Even worse, every idea I had was wiped off the table instantly to the point that I felt not been taken seriously.
It was almost impossible to have a two-way conversation with him. He like talking but not listening so much. Someone would start saying something and not get the opportunity to finish it because the boss would take over right away. I have witnessed him doing this with clients as well, sometimes to the point that they were clearly annoyed.
Recycling is not that hard
Years ago, we lived in an apartment complex that had two big bins for the collection of recyclable materials. Now I believe we should keep stuff out of landfills as much as possible and be careful with our precious natural resources. So, I made sure our aluminum cans, paper and plastic containers were properly disposed of.
And every time I made a trip to the dumpster I was amazed, and disgusted, to see that many people just didn’t care. Recyclables were carelessly thrown in the dumpster, while the dedicated bins were sitting right next to it. And at the same time garbage bags wound up in the recycling bins.
And of course, there are always some litterers who just throw their beer cans and McDonald’s containers on the ground, but I’ll write about that some other time.
Just before we moved out, the recycle bins were removed, due to the fact that hardly anyone used them.
The same thing happened in the mobile home park were we lived for a few years. Two barrels, one for aluminum cans, the other for clear plastic bottles were clearly marked and positioned right next to dumpsters.
And still most residents couldn’t care less and ignored the request to separate them from the other trash. It surely was no trouble at all, but for some people even that was too much to ask for.
I reminds me of something that I saw at a car show, in the early 1980’s. A man was eating a hot dog and decided he didn’t want the second half of it. And despite the fact that he was less than three away from a big trash can, he just dumped it on the floor and walked away. Forty years later it still upsets me. There is no excuse for behavior like that.
I resent lazy co-workers.
I worked for a small company and one of my co-workers was the sister of the owner. She was a nice lady and we worked together very well. She always worked hard and made sure things were done in time.
Then she decided to leave. The physical work became too much for her and she wanted to do something different. An ad was put in the paper (no Internet yet), and we received quite a few responses.
Hank seemed to be the best candidate He was in the right age group, has a positive demeanor and he had a degree in art history. A most welcome qualification for someone who works at an auction house.
I led the job interview and I put emphasis on the fact that, especially right before and during the auctions, there was a lot of physical labor to be done. “No problem,” he said. “I like being busy physically, it’s good for the body.”
Soon after he was hired I noticed however that he was more talk than substance. He willingly slacked on certain things and was in the habit of asking others to do it for him. Many times, one of us jumped in and as soon as we did he went off the gas even more.
Sometimes I needed a hand, but it was pointless asking him. Hank always had an excuse, or he flat out refused saying that he was too busy. His favorite thing to bring up was that he had back problems and he couldn’t lift anything. However, he only seemed to have a sore back on weekdays, on the weekends he played soccer without a problem.
I had it with him when he eased off completely and we had to call in two freelance workers to do the work that he could easily have done himself. And as soon as those workers showed up, Hank went into the office, sat at the desk, and only pretended to do be busy.