Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house . . .
Mice or not, I just needed a room at the inn.
I scheduled a well-known hospitality venue for a stay over the holidays. Rather than the traditional hotel, I opted for this billion dollar company with stellar reviews. Hours before I was to depart I get the call any traveler would dread. It was equal to, the hotel burned down. Sorry, you can’t stay where you reserved and paid to stay OVER CHRISTMAS.
I live by an axiom, is it an exception or is it the rule? It might be 80 degrees in Alaska a day in January. But is that the rule or the exception? We have to make decisions, or we will make better decisions if we make them based on the rule not the exception. If you pack only bathing suits to go to Alaska, chances are it will not bode well in the long run.
Is this the exception or the rule?
Whether you visit a massage therapist, a dentist or a physical therapist, you can have a good experience or a less than good experience. It does not mean all dentists are bad. It just means you may have found the exception.
The problem comes in when WE are the exception. If it happens to someone else we don’t care so much. We have fleeting compassion for the driver pulled off to the side of the road receiving a speeding ticket. But when it happens to us, the equipment was wrong, the sign wasn’t posted, etc.
There is a difference between ideology and practical application. In theory, we can agree that we should live by the rule. If we happen to be the exception, theory goes out the window.
While I sit here hours before I board a flight, having no idea if I now will have a place to stay, I remind myself of the rule I choose to live by. Surely my experience is an exception. The CEO would not be worth 3 billion dollars in less than ten years if my experience was the rule.
When practicality raises its head, can you still implement the exception versus rule philosophy?
Leslie is a contributing blogger for JenningsWire. Read more posts by Leslie Ungar here.
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