When I wrote this I was traveling 20,000 feet in the air heading west.
As I sit in my airline seat crunched up I realize that I have no choice but to smile and soak in the limited environment. My next destination is about 6 hours away and there is really not much room to move. Even my laptop as I write this is crunched up against the seat in front providing less than ample space to even type these words.
The limited space just sucks but hey – no point cribbin’ – this is what I paid for to fly economy. I really can’t move much. The airline is what it is – and this is the environment I chose for myself.
As part of this environment, I need to deal with many things – sharing a restroom with about 100 other people, eating a meal that is more or less selected for me, having limited control over window blinds which impacts how I sleep, and lack of air conditioning controls with these newer planes to control the amount of heat around my seating area.
Then there is the stewardess working my area of the plane. I am actually having so much fun looking at the different faces of the stewardess on my plane – not because I am a single guy – but to simply gauge who really loves the job that they have and who wants to really give back to the customer.
In my section of the craft there are two stewardesses and both are having stark differences in impacting how pleasurable my trip is going. This is just a gut feel that I have. One has a bit of a smile which is perking up her face while the other is carrying around a grumpy face – not smiling at any of the passengers.
Now, as a customer and passenger on the plane, I am not going to dwell in why one is looking a bit happier than the other, but I do want to share some thoughts on how I am feeling about the one who is looking a bit grumpy.
The most telling sign of her “marketed” grumpiness is not just the way she is carrying herself but the way she is serving the customer. I am about 15 rows into the plane and breakfast is being served. By the time she gets to me, she serves a meal and drink to approximately 50 people – and get this – with no smile or life into how she is serving any of the passengers.
In fact, what is making this experience interesting is that I am using words like “please” and “thank you” towards her and not even getting a slight smile of acknowledgment from her to say “you are welcome.”
Now, I am not one who seeks attention but this incident is certainly stimulating thoughts in terms of what a job and self-less service is all about.
If we had a choice in this world, none of us would work. But in today’s life we have no choice, we must work. We have bills to pay and families to feed. Work is not a choice, but a necessity.
Yet,what is self-less service? It’s giving back without accepting anything in return. It’s giving with a sense of valuing others. It’s acting out of kindness of service to others.
I don’t know what is troubling this stewardess as she seems to be happy around her fellow co-workers on the plane rather than passengers, but the most important life-lesson that can be taken from this is to smile at others – and do it genuinely and often.
Action towards others that is done with joy is what will bring you joy. There is no other way but to give with joy that is the most righteous action we can take. Now, what happens if others don’t give you joy? Well, don’t panic. Your existence in this world is not built on others giving you joy.
Happiness is not something that you can expect to be given by others. Even though I think it is the stewardess’s job to make my trip pleasurable, I still can’t control her emotions. This is a lie if you think someone needs to make you happy. If you want to be happy you create it yourself – but be cognizant of the happiness you create for others as well.
This is one of the most important takeaways – all associations, whether strong or light, that you have with others are judging how well you treat them.
You stick to your values and continue to say “please” and “thank you” to others to make their day even if others don’t make your day. If others don’t have respect for you in a particular situation, this doesn’t mean that you need to lose respect for them.
As I have mentioned previously, all situations are temporary. All events happening to you are temporary. Those things that you will remember the most are small actions that create joy for yourself.
Just start by smiling towards others. This is one of the best ways to value any relationship you have – and one of the simplest actions you can take to create more good in this world.