I can see clearly now, the rain is gone
I can see all obstacles in my way
I first heard that song in a commercial for a chain of eyecare stores. You know, the ones in the mall or in a strip center, next door to Kroger? For ages, whenever I heard that song, I’d think, “I need to get my eyes checked.” Now when I hear it, I think of the movie Cool Runnings. “Feel the rhythm, feel the ride, c’mon everybody, it’s bobsled time!”
So yeah. There’s that.
I had a happy, lovely, unexpected surprise today at work. Let me tell you about it! A few months ago, I worked with a customer who was UNHAPPY about a space we’d designed for her. She was beyond unhappy, she was livid. She called the store and chewed me out and I shed (more than) a few tears over it. It was unpleasant. About ten minutes after our final conversation, she called the store to apologize, said she had several more projects to work on, and wondered if I wouldn’t mind being the one to work with her. I told her I’d be delighted.*
We worked together all afternoon, into the evening. She didn’t leave the store until almost 10:45. (We close at 9.) As I was handing her off to another designer to finish up her spaces, she told me that she’d write a letter to my boss and my boss’s** boss telling them how much I’d helped her out. She asked for the names and I gave them to her, thinking that this might end very, very badly.
Today, the letter arrived! It was positively glowing. She couldn’t have been nicer or more complimentary about me, and I’m only mildly ashamed to recount this story here, to the three dozen or so people who visit every day. It was such a happy surprise and it brightened my afternoon considerably.
*Truth: I wasn’t actually delighted to hear from her. I was also decidedly not delighted at the prospect of her ripping me another new one. She was terrible to me and I didn’t actually want to speak to her again, ever. However, I understand she was under considerable stress and the Lord softened my heart in a way that only he can. We had a good afternoon working together. She’s just a person, and she was having a not-great moment. I totally get that.
**Insecure about the spelling of the possessive form of boss, I googled it and am absurdly delighted to find all sorts of resources on situations just like this. Internet, you are deep. And wide. (Deep and wide, there’s a fountain flowing deep and wide….)
The weather today was stellar.
