There Are No Lesser People

It was Benjamin Franklin who said, "Despair ruins some, presumption many.”

I recall one of my favorite lessons learned as a Barista at a local coffee shop.

One morning, during an overly busy rush, a lady in my line walked up to my counter, talking on her cell phone. I kindly stated my usual line, "Good morning! What can we make for you today?"

The lady without a moment's hesitation, raised her finger, held it out at me and let out a short, but forceful, "SHH!!" Then put her finger to her open ear in an attempt to listen better to her call.

Yes, you heard it right. She shooshed me. I was shooshed!

Well, after some badgering from a couple of customers behind her, she finally ordered her "half-decaf, double-tall, light-foam, 145 degree soy latte." Now, I had become a pro at taking and remembering the most random of drink orders, but something in me, I'm sure you can imagine, made me less than enthusiastic to recall hers. PLUS, I noticed that there was a cop who had just pulled up near her Lexus which was illegally parked up on the curb-side grass of the church across the way. I'll be very honest, whereas I might normally assist someone by letting them know, I'm sure you can imagine that my motivation was less than excited to do the same for her.

Thankfully, the barista on the bar noticed the same thing and when I called out the drink to him he called back, "Sorry could you repeat the order?"

I called back the order to him. Now I'll confess, I may have purposely called the second order incorrectly. But I also knew that the other barista was in on it and the lady would go crazy, and she did, shouting, "No! It was a half-decaf, DOUBLE-tall, light-foam, 145 degree soy latte." The other barista of course, took his time crafting the beverage.

By this time the police officer was well out of his car with his ticket book. Alas, some kind soul tapped the lady on her shoulder and pointed at the police officer. She dropped everything and ran out the door, yelling at the officer, who calmly said something back while pointing at the grass and the church.

It can be easy at times to make presumptions about people. That lady's presumption was that because of my meager place, I was of no use to her, beyond taking her order, when in fact, I probably could have saved her a ticket by explaining, as I often did to customers, that the police patrol the area often for illegally parked cars.

This week, try to consider those around you. Are you making presumptions about them? Remember, the people you consider the most insignificant, may in fact be the ones to play the most significant of roles in your life. Often without you realizing it.