It's All About Relating

I'm all about relating to people. It's a huge part of my job. HUGE. In fact, my job wouldn't exist without helping people, and to do that, I have to relate. I'm a relate-er-er, if you will (my own word... isn't it purrrdy?).

Considering no two people are exactly the same, isn't it obvious that one couldn't necessarily relate to everyone in the exact same way? Seems logical to me. So, I change things up depending on who I'm relating to. Some people like to be treated very efficiently with little to no unnecessary chit-chat. No problem, I can do that. Some people like to talk about their kids, grand kids, dogs, cats, motorcycles, the weather... whatever makes them tick. Gotcha... I'll do my best to bring it up and listen with rapt attention. And some people are just plain ornery and like to give me a hard time. And what I've learned is those people really, really like it best when I dish it right back to them with a smile on my face. Whatever trips their trigger is what I try to do... to relate to them as individuals.

Today I got in a bit of a pickle at work by relating to someone in what management deemed an 'unprofessional' manner. Oops. You see, it was someone I know pretty darn well, and he definitely falls into the 'ornery' category. Most definitely ornery. With a side of pain-in-the-you-know-what. In fact, I'm not sure we've ever had a conversation that didn't involve barbs going both directions. And we both love it. We just get each other. It's our thing. Know what I mean? Anyway, in the course of 'relating' to my customer-slash-friend this morning, one of the Uppity-Ups overheard me say "Damn it!" to him. What they didn't see was the grin on both of our faces or the twinkle in his eye when he knew he'd riled me up to that point. What can I say... it was just our thing in action. Unfortunately, Uppity-Up didn't see it that way.

Oh, well. So, I'll try to be a bit more professional for Uppity-Up from now on.

Professional, but in an ornery kind of way, that is...

*wink*