Friday, October 20, 2006

Cynical or Realistic?

Is the glass half full, or half empty or is that glass just too big for that amount of water? Sometimes I wonder if I'm a cynic. My wife says I think everyone is "goofy". Well... yeah, I do. But goofiness is not the issue, its degrees of goofy and what kind of goofy, benign or destructive, cute or ugly, oblivious or sociopathic. Unfortunately every time I supress or ignore my goofy meter, I get slammed somehow. I tend to want to give people the benefit of several doubts, go a third mile for them and make excuses for their weirdness. I supress the discomfort I feel when I'm talking to them. But...I know. Deep inside me the flags are waving, the sirens are going off and the warning light is flashing. Somehow in my head I've made "being a Christian" and ignoring the warning signs equivalents in some ways. WWJD in His woodshop if a goofy client asked Him to do a job and He knew even God couldn't do a good enough job to please this guy?

I'm meeting yet another client in a couple hours. We worked in the house for over a year before meeting the owners. The house itself just "felt creepy" to me and my two employees. Yesterday we found out the reason... we met the owners. I left a bill. They decided they are unhappy. We have a meeting. They are both lawyers... again........ sigh........

9 comments:

Meg said...

Ugh, s-p. Praying for you!

FWIW, I've asked my priest about this kind of thing, and he says you can almost always trust your gut feeling. It's not unChristian to do so. Worth considering....

Steve Robinson said...

Thanks Meg, your prayers must have worked. We met, I explained the reasons for the "issues" (mainly that they are going to do more remodeling and if I did what they wanted me to I would have to do it over again when they did, so I'm saving them from paying twice for the same work...) I walked away with a check and them smiling. Now I have to decide if I want to bid the remodelling project.

Anonymous said...

You once told me to be like a sniper. You know. Choose your shots. One shot. One kill. Well another rule of thumb I learned here at sniper school....
If the mission is compromised you have to WALK AWAY!

Anonymous said...

s-p, listen to Meg. What she is talking about is the gift of discerning spirits. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit. Don't ignore it. Use it for God's glory. And you had two people confirm the discerning.

But of course, you probably already know this.

Steve Robinson said...

Thanks all... check is cashed. I'm at square one with them. No obligations, no committments, just their expectation that I'm going to bid the next phase. A perfect time to walk.
I don't know why that is so hard to do. That danged Catholic parochial school upbringing is hard to overcome... right Meg? :)

Meg said...

Glad you got the check out of them, but -- if it feels hinky, and you can get out of it, get out of it. The heck with parochial school, this is the cops' relative speaking (I have more cops in my family than some local forces have cops). They don't teach you these things in parochial school, and nowadays, they aren't particularly friendly to cops, either; but the lesson about "hinky" is learned over the dead bodies of cops.

Maybe the people who work with you will resolve this one for you -- you said you all felt the place was "creepy," so if they refuse to go back there, you're done, right?

Kenzy said...

ok so if mom says that "everyone is goofy" then that just means that ALL of us are goofy. I would just say, you don't have the power of God to heal these people of their goofyness so I wouldn't try, just trust your gut, it's not all about the money.

Anonymous said...

Hey Kenz,
Read it again. Mom says that DAD thinks everyone is goofy. He DOES.

Anyway, Steve DO NOT GO BACK!!!!
Listen to your gut, listen to Thomas and Jeremy. Listen to McKenzie. Most importantly, listen to your WIFE!

Love,
Peggy

Anonymous said...

p.s. RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!

XOXO