Today at the store I had a most unpleasant encounter, AGAIN, with a most unpleasant customer. This man, I'll refer to him as Mr. Charles, insists on picking a fight every single time I speak to him. He is one of those master manipulators who is so confrontational that any explanation you try to give him is never good enough and he will twist your words to where they have no resemblance to their intended meaning. Unbelievable! Today, I realized that I had been handling him all wrong by trying to reason with him, so I decided to just kill him with kindness, agree with him, and give him whatever he wants to send him on his merry way. Because of this, from him I merited the title of "being huffy", then he apologizes, steps away from me, then pulls a coworker aside to tell her what an attitude problem I had and how hateful I am. Huffy? Hateful? Because I decided not to play his mind games? I've been called a lot of things, but "hateful" isn't one of them!
What's really sad to me is that Mr. Charles is a retired minister. Even before today's incident, I had thought about him and how miserable it would be for anyone to work with him or learn from him. He has a strong reputation in our store for being demanding and difficult, and I can only imagine how confusing it must have been to be a new Christian in his church and to witness that behavior coming from the pastor.
I have been thinking on this all day, of how I should handle him the next time, and if there's anything I would've said or done differently. It has always been tempting for me to worry myself to death when I know someone is upset with me. I TRY not to take it personally, and in this case, it's pretty obvious who has the attitude. My responsibility is to reflect Christ in my actions, and Mr. Charles is accountable to God for his own actions. Thankfully, what he does and how he chooses to act are not things that I need to concern myself with.
Obedience. Something that has been on my mind more and more lately. I know that today's incident is meant to draw me closer to Him. Will I follow Christ's example and respond in LOVE? It is easy for me not to be rude to people in most circumstances, but I have had more trouble taking that extra step toward showing love when faced with people like Mr. Charles. I think sometimes I have just skated by feeling like I was doing more than enough by simply biting my tongue. Like if I didn't say anything nasty then I was technically OK because I wasn't overtly sinning.
"You have heard that it was said, "Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?" - Matthew 5:43-47
"Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me." - John 14:21
"Love each other as I have loved you." - John 15:12
