I was on the Southern Methodist University campus the other day. I am part of the Southwest Graduate Banking School facility and am teaching a three day elective on Branch Transformation to second and third year students.
SMU is a beautiful campus. Not only do we receive outstanding resources to use in the classroom, we get access to the campus cafeteria for meals. Calling it a cafeteria may bring back memories of your grade school days, but today’s modern campus cafeteria is a veritable food court, with dozens of different food stations of every sort. So it’s easy to find something good to eat, or healthy, or even good and healthy.
One of the stations had a large sign above it, signaling healthy and gluten-free choices.
There were two workers serving behind the mandated safety glass. Now, I am not gluten intolerant, but I do try to eat as little of it as possible. So I went and waited in the gluten free line. When I reached the front, I glanced at the twelve desserts and I asked the worker what items were gluten free. In an irritated voice, he said, “there are no gluten-free items here.” He clearly thought my request for a gluten-free dessert was ridiculous.
Here’s the thing: if you are a food service worker and you are standing under a big sign that says “Made Without Gluten,” it’s not that much of a stretch for someone to reasonably assume there is gluten-free food there. Yet, we often provide some similarly irritated response to someone who is asking us a question we think is foolish or self-evident. If we step back a moment, we might find their question may not be all that foolish or ignorant if we look at the situation from the perspective of the other person.
Before you react negatively to any given situation, stop and think whether you are seeing the situation from every perspective. Have you considered all the information that is necessary to gauge why someone is asking a question? More times than not, understanding the reason for a question could provide the insight that assists you in understanding someone else’s perspective. Just think, if you could change how you react and thoughtfully respond instead, what kind of improvement in your relationships with family, friends, and co-workers would be achieved?