This certainly does seem to be the time of the "Me" generation. I must admit I am weary of hearing the phrase, "I don't have a problem with anything that anyone does as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else. What's good for me or another person shouldn't matter to anyone else as long as others aren't hurt by it." What a strange philosophy. Surely these people know that different things hurt different people! Somehow it just sounds like justification for unacceptable behavior to me.
Blaspheming God hurts ME tremendously but people still do it in front of me all the time. People behaving badly toward their spouse in front of others humiliates everyone around and last but not least, seeing or hearing of people hitting their children makes me literally cringe and sometimes cry. A wise man once said that hitting children teaches them nothing except how to hate.
I never hit my son and I could not be more proud of the man he has become. He is a college graduate who has lived and taught school in Spain, he survived as a free lance writer for seven years and wrote articles for national publications, he had his own public relations firm and he is now the Communications Director for the Wilderness Society in Washington DC. He is a Christian who attends church (although not often enough to totally suit his mother.) He does not smoke and he only drinks on social occasions. Plus he loves his parents and his job and animals. What did I ever do to deserve such a wonderful young man for a son?
Someone gave me the nicest compliment today. They said I should receive some kind of award for looking out for my customers the way I do. You see I had group rates on a cruise booked many months ago and I check every week to make sure the rates don't decrease--I could not bear it if my valued clients had to pay a higher price and be penalized for booking early. 95% of the time prices do nothing but increase as time goes by but every now and then a cruise rate will decrease. No one knows why but the intelligent people at the helm of the cruise lines know why and they will sometimes decrease a rate because they know that is what they need to do.
When I checked on the rates again today they had indeed decreased--this time by a phenomenal $130 per person. That is a really significant savings. I was very excited that I got to call 26 people to tell them about the money they were going to save--one family had two cabins so they saved $480! It was she who asked me, "Don't you lose money when that happens ---because you are on commission?" Well yes I certainly do but I look out for number one--and that's not ME. It is my clients who put their trust in me to take care of them and make sure they get the best value for their money. I wonder how many travel agents get repeat business from someone who doesn't take care of them sufficiently? 80% of my business is from repeat customers and referrals and I could not be more proud of that fact.
Man, what a good day--to be able to tell 26 people they owed less money than they thought. Life is good.
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