I was reminded today of something that when I was working was something that each day I worked I had to make a deliberate effort to remember. It is important enough to me to post here and come back to often as a reminder.
I belong to a group of wolf dog owners, I did not get a wd on purpose, I fell in love with my puppy at first sight and after having her all day her former Mommy came to say goodbye and at that time said oh her grandfather is a full blooded timber wolf. I started researching this and have pretty much convinced myself that for whatever reason this woman was trying to make my baby seem better or different, because I have not seen one thing in my dog that would lead me to believe she is anything other than dog. But you can learn a lot from these groups and I love reading about their animals, the different sanctuaries for these magnificent animals and the great people fighting for their rights to own them.
Well yesterday, my baby jumped from a standing position next to my hammock to standing on my hammock. We were both shocked by this, I thought I was seeing things, she thought "Cool" and proceeded to practice this new skill. To say this was unnerving would be an understatement. I researched the Internet hoping to find that this was a normal dog thing that I had somehow missed with all the dogs I have owned. Sadly, the only reference I could find was that female wolfs can jump from a stand up to 9' in the air. I was not reassured.
So, at the risk of sounding stupid I went to this group of people who live and breathe wolf and asked if anyone could help me. Which leads me to what I need to remember, some of the answers I got, you could tell the person sighed when answering me because to them there was nothing odd about this, they see it often. But one lovely woman wrote that her dog had done this but she did not ask the group for fear of not being believed.
I had to remind myself in my former job, everyday, that because I knew permitting inside out, that after 20 years I could do it singing, dancing , standing on my head, well you get the picture, I knew permitting. But every time a homeowner walked through my office door I made an effort "deliberately" to remember that to them this is new, that they had strengths in areas that to me would be totally confusing. I still cannot understand how radios work, to me they are just magical creations. Please no one try to explain to me for the millionth time I just will never get it, and I am OK with that.
But sometimes we should all stop and remember that what is easy for us, our life experiences, may be very different from others and learn patience.
When I was in retail, I used to remind my CSRs that even though it was the 30th time today that they had been asked the same question, it was the first time that that particular person had asked it. That is the problem with forums sometimes. People forget or are just cranky to begin with.
ReplyDeleteregards,
Theresa
I worked in county government for almost 20 years and was very lucky to work with people who believed like me that we are all the same, people with hopes, dreams and lots of plans who just want to be treated as we treat others. Sadly a lot of people forget this.
ReplyDeleteI think the highlight of my years was a young couple, who were expecting their first child; building their dream first home, who took a group picture of all of us together when they passed their final inspection.
I love moments like that, the joy of knowing that you helped to make this a good experience for them, one they wanted to remember with a photo.