Learning to be gracious, while under fire has always been a hard tactic for me, But learning and using this skill has proved to be one of my greatest assests in the business world.  That famous slogan, "The customer is always right," is  a very arguable statement, but in theory it rains true. It doesn't matter what profession or situation that one may be in, it applies. We have all been subjected to nasty people - it's how we respond to them that matters.

Yesterday was a day that I would not wish on anyone. I was contacted by Company X to do a purchase closing because someone else bailed out on them at the last minute.  The closing was scheduled for 6:30pm and I was contacted at 4:00pm.  I was informed that the docs were ready for download and I should have them shortly. The real estate office was contacted and I introduce myself as the person acting in behalf of Company X. All seemed okay.  Well 4p.m. turn to 5p.m., 5p.m. turn to 6p.m. - you get the hint; Company X was pulling a fast one. I placed several calls were made to them, "they will be sent soon" was the response.  Finally, I get documents, call the office to let them know that I am on my way and offered an apology for the delay.   

I walked into a mob of 10 angry people (realtors, lawyers, borrowers, brokers). They wanted blood and I was the prey.  They acted very nasty and rude towards me.  Company X failed to tell me that these poor people had been waiting since 9:30 a.m. to close the deal.  Then my cell goes off and it's Company X  yelling and screaming at me because I was late getting to the closing.  Oh yeah - I forgot to mention the closing was 20 miles away from my office. And they also wanted to warn me that the borrowers didn't have enough for the closing costs...What the ----?  I excused myself, hung up with Company X and went to the bathroom to pull myself together. 

I remembered there was a donut shop next door, so I went to get a box of donuts and returned to conduct the closing.  The mob was enraged.  So I kindly said, can we start over again and I explained that I understood their frustrations and there were some unforeseen obstacles that we all have encountered today.  I apologized and offered everyone a donut.  We were able to resolve all problems and close successfully in a pleasant manner.   The mob became sweet, some wanted to meet for drinks with me later, and some asked how was I able to charm them and my response was, "The customer is always right." 

I thought of the words of Eleanor Roosevelt: "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."  And "Every time you meet a situation, though you think at the time it is an impossibility and you go through the tortures of the damned, once you have met it and lived through it, you find that forever after you are freer than you were before." 

I would not allow myself to constrained by restrictions placed on me and fall into the trap of the blame game.  My intentions was to close the deal and stay focused on my overall objective to provide services no matter what, was the winning factor which allowed me to be the better person.