BariatricEating.com Health & Nutrition
Rant - Hurricane’s should create human kindness.
For those of you who don’t know… my home and warehouse are
located in south Florida. The eye of Hurricane Wilma passed right on through
here October 24th; which seems like ages ago now that we are close to
normal save for a lot of trees and some roofs.
What does this have to do with weight loss surgery? Actually, not much, but it’s my website and I can occasionally deviate to make a point.
Since 98% of south Florida was without power following the storm, none of our traffic lights were working. This is a very heavily populated part of the country and traffic is terrible with traffic lights. I anticipated that once people came out after the storm to put their lives back in order that driving would be a nightmare. I was wrong. Each day the commute got shorter from my condo to the warehouse, as most people grew kinder and a bit more patient. I was amazed that there could be 4 lines of traffic with everyone taking turns going through; some folks even politely motioning to an unsure motorist to ‘go on’. We moved through some of the bad intersections faster with the ‘taking turn’s method’, than when the traffic light was working. Before the storm, drivers rushed to the intersection and sat revving engines, blowing horns if you didn’t immediately stomp on the gas at first glimmer of green.
Sometimes terrible incidents bring out the best in people, and I want to take the opportunity to thank everyone who has been kind to me while we have been dealing with this storm. I got some of the nicest email from people who were genuinely concerned not only for my well-being, but that of my husband and staff here at BariatricEating.com. Remember that I didn’t have power for over a week, or cable for internet or phones, so all the email I got was saved up for me and gave me a true snapshot.
Ahhhh, both the good and unfortunately the bad. Here is where the rant comes in. If this shoe doesn’t fit, don’t put your foot in it.
I don’t mean this in a bad way, but some of you really need to make it a point to turn on Fox News or MSNBC or how about the Weather Channel and pay just a little attention on occasion. I like to think that I am fairly well-informed. My wls friend Stephanie and I laugh that we should have a TV show or live web feed of our late night phone conversations as we almost always have a ‘segment’ where we talk about world and political situations. Just because you didn’t know that almost an entire state was obliterated doesn’t make you a bad person; somewhat clueless but not bad. (Here comes the part that makes a bad person) I would like to suggest however that before you are MEAN or NASTY to someone, consider that the situation you perceive as a problem might just be caused by something going on in the world that is beyond human control. When you place on online order and delivery is slow, and there is a HUGE hurricane around the same time, you might want to see if the two situations are possibly related before you let loose on someone.
Hurricane aside, I was shocked by the people who would even think of sending a nasty email to a company while anticipating a package. At least write an initial somewhat polite email asking about your order. I am also a consumer. If two months ago I had placed an online order and was wondering where my order was, I would be nice in my initial inquiry and surely would understand if I checked the website for the phone number and saw that the company was located in a town on the Gulf or near New Orleans. Hmmmm… Hurricane Katrina would pop into my mind. I would immediately cut the company a LOT of slack and certainly would not send multiple emails demanding responses and explanations. (I want to reiterate that I am not talking about people who didn’t realize we were in Florida and simply asked where their order was because they usually get it so quickly... this is not about you)
Once I had an opportunity to explain our storm situation by having Stephanie read me my email while I stood in the yard at night yelling into my cell phone and could dictate what she should write, a couple of people got nastier. In my opinion, they deserve a big thump in the head! Life is short… be nice to people. You find out that someone has been in a hurricane and you keep the jerk persona? What the heck is wrong with some of you?
I will even give the benefit of the doubt to the couple of really horrible ones. I prefer to think that maybe they just had their surgery and were in that ‘zone of misery’ during the first 4 weeks home from the hospital. Unfortunately I am beginning to understand after this hurricane that some people are born miserable, have no manners, and are just plain rude. Add 300 extra pounds on top of all that charm and things get exponentially worse. I recognize that I was a more miserable person when I was fat so maybe that has something to do with it.
On Saturday, I was waiting to get some Boars Head ham and it was the third day that the grocery store had power. The store had done an amazing job in filling the empty shelves and coolers to the best of their ability as fresh cold stock arrived. Most people were happily flexible in our choices due to the previously uncomfortable circumstances. We had ALL been sitting in the dark with our flashlights, with no water, no phone, listening to a little radio while eating peanut butter and tuna, so ANYTHING the store had on the shelves was a gift. Of course there was that small percentage of nasty people who hadn’t been humbled by their hurricane experience and one of them was standing next to me. She was treating the quiet Asian man working in the deli like he was dirt. Complaining about the thickness and then thinness of her meat. He was too slow. He needed to speak up. He needed to stop cleaning the machine as she was in a hurry! As she continued to badger him, he got more and more upset. Several of us waiting looked at each other in disbelief and felt sorry for this man.
Before I knew it, I had blurted out ‘Are you always this nice, or just since the hurricane?’ She whipped around and turned on me. She narrowed her eyes and screamed ‘Excuse me?’ My hands were shaking as I firmly proclaimed ‘There is NO excuse for you or how you are talking to that man! How dare you belittle him when he hasn’t done anything to you?’ The ladies in line looked at me with their mouths open and the deli workers started to smile. She countered with ‘He was rude to me and how dare you yell at me. You are embarrassing yourself.’ I looked around, at the faces watching me and found strength as I replied, ‘You are the one who should be embarrassed. Everyone here was thinking to themselves what I just said out loud. After all that we have all been though with this storm, I am not keeping quiet. You are RUDE and should be ashamed of yourself for the way you are talking to that nice man.’ She grabbed her cold cuts and started walking away. When I looked up the entire deli and produce section was looking at me smiling, several people started to clap and others gave me the thumbs up. The deli man looked me in the eye and thanked me for sticking up for him. He called the next number, and it was mine. He had a huge smile while he cut my ham and I felt good that I was actually able to come up with the snappy clear headed comments I usually think of when it is too late.
I walked back to my cart and my husband Ty was looking at me shaking his head. ‘I just knew you weren't going to keep quiet!’
So, if you resemble any of the negative characters in this month’s rant… KNOCK IT OFF! Just because the world is full of nasty people, doesn’t mean you have to be one of them!
One last thing. I am sending one of the nice people who sent me good wishes, Laura Matthews of California, a Lauren’s Hope Gift Certificate, because of the email she sent to me this morning. She is a wonderful and wise person and I would like to do something nice and completely unexpected for her. Thank you Laura for making my day!
Go out there and be nice to someone today! Pay forward some good vibes... and you will find that you get much more in return.
Ciao,
Susan Maria
Copyright
© BE, Inc. 2011 - Susan Maria Leach. All rights reserved.
