{10min read}
How dog mates, exploding co-tenants, assault of a vehicle, missing boxing class and
a gatorade ruined the morning coffee.
One afternoon we were all having fun doing the shopping.
Walking the isles, right next to each other so the younger client couldn’t steal like usual.
After a few minutes the client got annoyed with being “treated like a baby”, so I swung into gear.
“Alright man, We have boxing tonight. If You do boxing class I’ll let you take a gatorade.
You can choose it now, but you need to help me finish the shopping.”
You could FEEL the side eye… this 3 foot tall monster was head tilt staring into my soul for a second!
Eventually snapping out of it the client agreed, and tried to haggle for a larger sport drink.
We got all the shopping, some how avoided them dumper (gross old cigarette butt) hunting and climbed back in the car. The older client even offered to take the trolley back to the bay,
a massive win!
On the short drive home, that older client got a phone call.
The instant the call was answered he began elbowing and punching at the door, asking me to pull over. When it was safe I did and he got out and BLASTED the phone.
Completely losing it. Yelling all kinds of things at the screen.
The poor younger client in the front looked concerned for the co-tenant, but frightened for the situation.
When everything calmed down we learned that it was a ‘friend’ teasing the older client,
going on about talking to their “missus” and just antagonising him.
This poor client was still obviously losing it internally, but he was clearly trying to hold it together.
As we pulled into the garage, a text message just set it all back off!
The older client FLEW out of the car, kicking and swinging at anything and everything on the way out.
Suddenly, they saw the bins. There was that split second pause as you could almost hear the thoughts… They rushed the bins, punching and kicking them over, throwing trash everywhere.
It was like a wild-man playing in a bubble machine for the first time. These bins had been full of foam and construction junk from the walls being repaired. He was on the ground throwing white scraps to the sky, and as they rained down a quick kick or another launch would get them back into space. Honestly, I barely held it together watching it.
As the tantrum finished, the client just began apologising and cleaning the mess he had just made!
So dog mates, that exploding co-tenant, and the vehicle assault had given the “gatorade boy” the perfect excuse to not go to boxing.
Now he wanted ‘his’ drink. But that wasn’t happening. Until he trained.
When I explained this “gatorade boy” stormed through the house… Instantly I remembered leaving my mug on the bench before the shopping… and worse yet, I remember thinking that it was a dumb idea to leave it there. . .
This MONSTER bee lined to my coffee mug, hurling it into the ground ground. Sending shards EVERYWHERE.
Good bye coffee mug, hello annoying travel mug for the morning coffee.
Sure, the escalation wasn’t the best outcome.
But, because of the situation there were things that made it easier (and sped up the recovery process)
Non reaction
Integrity
Boundaries
When all of the drama went down, even the bin kicking, I kept calm and tried to not laugh out loud.
This helped the situation just move by naturally. If I yelled or even said stop, this could have ended much differently.
Next is integrity. If we are constantly doing what we say we will, when we speak people can count on it. This works for good and bad. There was no point going further after the coffee mug assassination… Everyone knew I wasn’t changing my mind.
Boundaries. Much like integrity, when there are lines laid and everyone knows them there is zero argument. Sure there’s hurt feelings sometimes, but boundaries are boundaries.
They can pen in and keep safe, or suffocate. In this situation I feel the boundaries were fair, sometimes we may need to reevaluate where the boundary is following this type of situation though.
This story is what it is, and I wish I had a prefect lesson to pull from it…
But it’s what happened next that bothered me this time.
The next worker, knowing this story, gave the gatorade over. Causing future problems and showing that we were not a team in that house.
If You have experienced similar issues check this post out for some quick tips!
