One of the things I am learning in my leadership class and retraining my brain to do is pair patience with asking questions coming from a place of curiosity instead of judgement.
Judgement is easy. It is a basic skill and we need to elevate and work to achieve coming from a place of curiosity. It removes the condescending mindset a lot of us (including myself) have depending on the situation.
This morning at the lab I witnessed the basic judgement attitude a lady had. I admit that I don’t know what she is dealing with currently in her life. But this is how the events unfolded.
One of the phlebotomist’s called someone name. This woman stood up and bee lined to the counter stating that the kiosk must be broken because the person they called had come in after her. She was snarky about it and presented this information in a “I know it all” and “you did this to me” type of way.
“Your kiosk must be broken because I came in before that guy and he just got called.”
The lady at the desk was so patient and took the verbal abuse. The lady at the desk navigated it beautifully.
Let’s pause. What could this lady have said to come from a place of curiosity?
“ hey, I was wondering where my name was on your list. I thought I had come in before the gentleman that was just called.”
Subtle difference, but for the person on the receiving end (that did not decide to use the kiosk, she just collects lab papers) it can make a world of difference.
The snarky woman sat back down and turned to me and said “this is the worst kiosk I have ever used”. I gave her a polite smile to acknowledge her comment. After listening to the lady behind the desk troubleshoot this, it became clear this was user error, not the kiosk in this instance.
I hear these interactions all the time. I understand that people get frustrated. What about the people that take that snarkiness day in and day out? They are the people that I worry about.
I scooped Avery up from her dorm and took her to lunch. In exchange, she had to ride with me to do errands like drop stuff off at goodwill, go to the Verizon store and update my wishes for international travel so that Paul and I don’t have to sell a kidney to pay for it.
It felt really good to walk in and say…”I have some international travel coming up”.
While I was driving yesterday, I was trying to picture what it would be like to drive on the opposite side of the road. I might need to read some basic traffic laws for Turks and Caicos.
We picked up Ethan’s glasses and he is trying to get used to them. He refused to show Avery them. Ha. They still bicker like an old couple. I love it.
Ethan and I have been having good chats about his next moves with his career. He even thanked me last night. Of course my heart melted a little.
Even thought the bulk of our medical stuff has subsided, this mental catch up is rough to navigate. I am glad no one prepared us. It would have given me anxiety. It is best to play goalie and just deal with it and keep it out of the net so to speak.
💚💚💚
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