Sometimes we have bad days. Sometimes we take those bad days out on others. And sometimes we help others turn their bad days into not-so-bad days. So is life.
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I recently had a client who was MAD. I had no idea why, but he emailed me saying that he had ‘lots of issues with BBA’. I scheduled a call with him. Meantime, I poured through his files, notes, and spoke with his bookkeeper. None of us could figure out what it was about.
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Not gonna lie, I was nervous getting on that call. I absolutely hate confrontation, and I especially hate when a client is unhappy with our services. As soon as we got on the phone, he just started venting about life. This person has LOTS of tough stuff going on in his life right now. I listened. He knew that he could talk to me because we’ve always had that sort of relationship. (Yet another reason that I was confused at his anger!)
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After we talked through his bad day (month, really), I bit the bullet and asked ‘So, will you tell me why you’re mad at BBA?’ His response? ‘Oh, I’m not. I was just confused about something.’
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We then joked about him taking out his frustrations on BBA. We laughed. He apologized. He acknowledged that we’ve always taken good care of him and his business. I reminded him that if he ever needs to talk that he knows I’m here.
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He just needed a little extra support for a minute. By the end of the call, we were both smiling and laughing and supporting one-another as business owners.
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So, I just want to remind you…
- Be aware if you’re ‘taking it out’ on somebody else, but
- Have some grace for those around you and accept that perhaps they’re just having a bad day
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