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| Sid Hurlbert - www.sidhurlbert.com |
Doggone you, Sid Hurlbert! Your seminar nearly killed me.
I went to one of the local motivational speaker’s two-hour workshops last fall. It was all about using his five STEPS to improve relationships and customer service.
The key point is that you get back exactly what you give out, no matter which side of the customer/ service relationship you are on.
That evening I had the perfect laboratory to try out my new people skills, which mainly consisted of smiling at everyone. I went to the local county fair.
Now I consider myself more of an introvert - my wife thinks I’m antisocial - so this was new territory for me.
Well, I sauntered on to the fairgrounds, armed with a smile and a new attitude. I was not prepared for what happened.
First, a slightly familiar young man came charging up to shake hands and slap me on the back. I stared in bewilderment, until I remembered him as an old basketball adversary. And I do mean adversary. We had exchanged words and could not stand each other either as foes or teammates. Now it turned out he was a neighbor and saw me all the time on my bike. So we chatted like girls in a grocery store, until I was interrupted by a former bandmate and his wife. After exchanging war stories, a young lady hollered at me and wanted to talk about my family.
I was in a maelstrom of camaraderie, an uncharted and dangerous land. A business associate with whom I had had disagreements approached. I knew this would be the end of my noble experiment. Instead, he asked sweetly if I would mind sharing copies of some photos I was snapping.
As I nodded dumbly, another young man came along, and stuck out his hand, introducing himself as a boy I used to know who was now a man just out of a military academy, along with his new wife. It went on like that for three hours.
But the best was when a total stranger - an older woman - yelled at me from her bench and said, “I recognize you from the newspaper.” Turned out she was also a writer, and we talked about Texas, history, and life. She was with her 80-something retired rancher husband, whom she described as “a hermit” who thought Doss was too crowded. At first he stared sullenly off into the crowd, but when he realized I was “giving out what I wanted back” he started sharing tales of his life on the frontier. After 45 minutes she was trying to pull him out the gate, but he wouldn’t stop talking. This new skill was powerful... and wearing me out.
It never stopped. I was besieged by new best friends. I was surrounded by young ladies, bowling buddies, former bandmates, and people from 30 years in my past. I finally had enough. I started frowning and fled! Being popular is exhausting.
Sid Hurlbert, you need to add a disclaimer to your seminar. For us introverts, smiling is a dangerous weapon. Use it wisely and rarely.
xxx
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