B E H I N D / T H E / B A R

Monday’s are tough.  Its never easy to get back to the grind on Monday morning after a couple days off from work.  The next five days can seem somewhat foreboding, knowing that there is a lot of work to do until the next two day reprieve rolls back around.  Factors like these, and countless others, can cause one to be a little less pleasant on Mondays, and for that everyone deserves a little leniency.  However, for some folks, it seems like they never get past the Monday blues.

We all know of folks like that.  One gentleman in particular comes to mind.  Every time he comes into the shop his countenance is always the same.  I am convinced that if he were to smile, his face would crack.  When he walks through the door, I instantly identify him in my mind, “Here comes Mr. Grumpy.”  At first I hated waiting on him.  No matter how positive, how complimentary, how kind, how non-grumpy I try to be, he never reciprocates.

Last week, “Mr. Grumpy” came in the shop and Leslie, my co-worker said afterwards, “that man alway seems so sad, its almost like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders.”  That statement rang in my ears like a thousand church bells.  Suddenly, I realized that I had never really stopped to consider the fact that there may be issues in his life that have affected him so drastically, that he simply cannot smile or return a word of kindness.

Have you encountered a “Mr. Grumpy?”  You may be sitting, riding, or working next to someone like that right now.  Have you stopped to consider what may be going on behind the scenes of their life?  You may never know.

I have an idea:  Lets cut them some slack.  Lets purpose to keep smiling at them, keep speaking kind words to them, keep complimenting them.  You never know what your consistency may mean or how it may affect their lives.

Let’s let the Mr. Grumpy’s in our world see light in our lives.