Imagine on your birthday, you are super excited about the day and even about the new year. You are getting so many beautiful messages from your friends, making you feel loved. Night comes but before you sleep, one of your friends sends you screenshots of messages from a total stranger. You expect them to be sweet and kind words but no, they are hate and curse messages. This stranger is saying how stupid you are and how miserable your life will be. Last messages from your friends should make the day end well right? But then, who is this person?
I am about to share a story which is really long but I will skip some parts so we can jump right into the reason I decided to share the story. This is something I don’t say often, I love making money from my business, but more than that, I also love the fulfilment that comes from seeing customers satisfied after making a purchase from my store. Every time a customer is disappointed, I feel like I have failed(I am not sure I have expressed it this way before, but it is exactly how I feel).
The second week of April…
This beautiful, calm and soft-spoken lady sends a message that she wants to place an order for a wristwatch which she intends to surprise her boyfriend with. I took pleasure in taking that order, I mean, gift orders make me super excited knowing the customer is about to make a lasting impression on another person. The day we were to deliver, the dispatch rider who was supposed to deliver it didn’t pick it up on time and even transferred the package to another rider to deliver. None of these would have been an issue if it was delivered early.
Vexed by the whole delay and what sounded like a cock and bull story from the rider, my customer gave my contact to her friend who called me. I wish she didn’t make that call. She literally crushed my spirit with it but I still had to respect her and said nothing to her all the while she called me stupid, incompetent and even threatened that if my rider didn’t deliver the package that day, I wouldn’t like what will happen to me. I reported the cuss and threats to the friend who placed the order and told her it was the respect I had for her that held me back (the second reason is, I never cuss strangers online).
The next time I called the rider, he said his bike had broken down and he wasn’t going to deliver till the next day. I was weak! But what can I do? I had to tell my customer what was up.. gave her assurance of her boyfriend receiving a late birthday gift (this was really sad for me, made me learn to seek more reliable logistics and just book ahead of time for sensitive orders like this one. We resolved the issue and I achieved chat with the lady that was threatening me, so I assumed, that was the end of this issue.
Last week of May.
I came home after a stressful day in Lagos and I was just enjoying random gist with my sister when I took a casual stroll to the streets of Instagram, then I saw an Instagram story post of that my customer celebrating her friend. The name clicked and I decided to be double sure, so I checked the profile and discovered it was the same lady. So I narrated the whole event that took place that day and even went and showed her the chats. “You tolerate a lot in this your business o, I don’t like it. I don’t think I can take much from anyone”, these were all she said, and we moved on. A few minutes later, she came to meet me and showed me the same girl on her friend’s WhatsApp status. I was shocked! Small world indeed o.
At this point, my sister decided to buy the case. She sent messages to her friend to send to the celebrant. I could have stopped her from sending those messages, considering it was her birthday but I chose not to. I think I just needed her to understand that this world is small and nobody knows tomorrow.
This brings me to why I am sharing this post. Today, you might be the king, you have it all rosy and you meet someone in a vulnerable position. If you cannot help them, leave them that way. It is better you leave them the way they are, than leaving them in a worst state. Also, it makes no sense to fight strangers online. Someone, you know nothing about their background? Imagine it wasn’t my sister lashing back at her, imagine I was in an HR position at a company she applied to work and she walks into the interview room and I become the obstacle to her getting the job. Things happen every day and you really do not know what fate holds for you, so it is important to allow wisdom to guide your life.
Besides, I think it also shows you have low EQ and working on it really important so you can enjoy a happier life with people while you are still alive.
P: S. I did not share this story to trigger the parties involved, it was basically written to share the morals in it. I hope you have learnt a thing or two reading. Let me know in the comment section what you took from the story and you can also share any lesson you have which is similar to these.
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Till I come your way again, I remain your friend,
Flora.