April 30, 2007

Robert Hidde's Monday Morning, April 30, 2007

Expectations: “Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get.” (Mark Twain)

Yesterday (Saturday) I stopped to pick up a prescription at the drug store I’ve used since the chain began putting one on every corner. To my amazement I saw, in the pet supply aisle a twenty-something man holding a puppy (I didn’t know pets were allowed in drug stores!). As I watched, he was placing various chew toys in the pup’s mouth and asking (I kid you not) “Do you like this one better than the other one?” After getting my prescription, I thought of a couple of other things I needed and then dutifully got into a long check-out line (we’ve come to “expect” two checkers in stores when only three customers are in line, but one checker when there are more than 10, right?) Apparently the puppy had made his choice of chew toys because he and his master were two people ahead of me.

The twenty-something and pup’s turn to check out came and the cashier literally gushed over the puppy—begging to hold it. She took the puppy and began a lengthy conversation with the owner (while alternately “baby-talking” to the puppy) that seemed to go on forever. Finally, the person in front of me set her basket on the floor and left! Instead of taking the hint, the checker, in a loud voice told the puppy, “Mommy doesn’t understand people who don’t take time for cute little puppies, do you?” but she did begin scanning the twenty-something’s purchases, stopping between items to talk to the pup. Then, just as we thought the line would move again, twenty-something decided to tell her how he got the puppy. The person behind me pushed his shopping cart out of the way—and left! When I finally got to the cashier, instead of apologizing, she said, “I don’t know what those two people that left in a huff expected! I mean, a cute little puppy like that, who could resist it? They must hate animals!” I resisted the urge to tell her that they, like me, had an expectation of getting checked out in a timely manner!

At approximately 11:10 this morning (Sunday), I was reminded again about expectations. You see, I had decided to drive to a suburb of Tulsa to visit the church where an old friend, who came out of retirement serves as pastor. He had told me about the many improvements they had made to the building and I was eager to see them. Having worshipped there a couple of other times, I knew the type of service was more in keeping with the kind of churches I grew up in—short of liturgy but long on congregational singing and a feeling of family. Okay, I got lost and arrived late—as I started in the front door, I saw a poster announcing a “Singing Group” at the church (not my idea of church, but hey, to each his/her own, right?) I didn’t pay attention to the time or dates. As I walked toward the closed doors leading to the sanctuary, I heard thunderous applause—I stopped, went back, read the poster—returned my car and left.

Why, you might ask did I do that? Obviously, I had expected to be a “customer” at this little church, but the difference between what I expected (“climate” as Mark Twain called it, based on previous experience) and what I was greeted with (“weather” to use Twain’s words) cost them the “sale” this Sunday. I had spent the morning “preparing my heart and mind” to worship in the way they worshipped—and I was greeted by “weather” instead of the “climate” my expectations had led me to prepare myself spiritually and mentally for.

We’ve all had similar experiences where our expectations weren’t met by sales people, vendors, stores, or our coworkers haven’t we?
But how many times have the expectations of our internal and external customers been disappointed, not because some unexpected situation came up or something we couldn’t control happened, but because we gave them weather, not the right climate?
What we expect isn’t as important as what they expect!