| You've seen this sign, especially in restaurants: | | | | I made a sales presentation the other day, and |
| We Reserve The Right To Refuse Service To | | | | from the minute I said hello, I felt one guy was |
| Anyone! | | | | simply gunning for me, waiting for a chance to |
| In the restaurant world, a patron who is banned | | | | torpedo my proposal. Call it bad vibes, intuition, a |
| for life is said to have been "86'd." I have no idea | | | | gut feeling, bad karma, messed up |
| where this came from, but it means don't you | | | | chemistry--whatever--we did not hit it off. |
| dare step foot in that eatery again! | | | | I blame myself, because I want to get along with |
| I learned it as a worldly-wise busboy, 15 years of | | | | everybody, but again, is it possible, or just too |
| age. | | | | darned perfectionistic? |
| But I don't think I've ever seen someone else | | | | In other words, can we, should we, or must we |
| being 86'd, but the other day it happened to me. | | | | all 86 certain prospects? |
| I asked a video place to transfer a European | | | | I want to say, no, we shouldn't. It's a bad |
| video I had, with a non VHS format, to DVD. | | | | practice, and certainly a self-defeating practice. |
| They did it--sort of. It couldn't play on my TV's, | | | | I look at it this way. If car dealers, who by |
| so I asked them to try again, or give me a | | | | tradition and perhaps temperament, are hagglers |
| refund. | | | | over pricing, should they pity themselves because |
| The proprietor flipped out, saying I had an | | | | their prospects gun for them, seeking bargains, |
| obsolete machine, but heck, it's a two -year old | | | | and perceiving them as liars, and crooks? |
| Sony, so he was wrong. Anyway, we settled on | | | | If car dealers insisted on being loved by |
| the idea of him putting it on VHS, instead, and he | | | | everybody, while rejecting those who were |
| said a condition of doing so is that I never darken | | | | treating them obnoxiously, they'd go broke in less |
| his doorstep, again. | | | | than a month! |
| With glee, I agreed! No problem, I thought. | | | | So, why should anyone else, like me, be less |
| Anyway, I was 86'd. | | | | thick-skinned? |
| Which brings up this question: should we be able | | | | I don't have an answer to that, except to say, |
| to get along with everybody, or are there | | | | hey that's business. |
| acceptable levels of interpersonal communication | | | | Toughen up, or hang it up! |
| failure that we simply must tolerate? | | | | |