Fifteen of Thirty: Half way there!

When I committed to daily blogging for thirty days I was concerned that I wouldn't find enough topics to comment on and that the time would drag by - dreading each daily reminder on my calendar.

Au contraire, mes amis. I have found (and am still finding) no shortage of topics. Those who know me know that I can be opinionated - so that hasn't been an issue either :)

In today's fast-paced society, one of life's conundrums is the endless amount of waiting we all do. We wait for the coffee to drip, the appliances to do their tasks, the phone to ring, the computer to boot up (or shut down). But the most exasperating wait of all is the wait for someone else to do something.

For example, today I am waiting for:

• a friend to call and make arrangements for a long-overdue luncheon get together;
• a repair person to call and schedule a visit to fulfill his 'to do' list;
• a driveway asphalt company to either call or show up to finish our driveway (before winter, please);
• a furniture company to call and deliver my two new chairs;
• a client to call and confirm information for a project that should go out to the media today;
• and so on. 

And that's just today's list of "wait for" items. Because of the "wait fors", we all revamp our schedules, practically on a minute by minute basis, to accommodate someone else's schedule. What is wrong with this picture? And more importantly, where is the mutual respect for others' time and convenience?

One thing I just noticed is that the topic of r-e-s-p-e-c-t seems to be creeping into several of my daily commentaries. Hmmmm. What does THAT say?

Four of Thirty: Respect

Respect is a word that is often used loosely in a variety of contexts. We can show each other respect in a variety of ways, not the least of which is respecting others' time.

Yesterday I spent most of the day hanging around the house waiting for the electrician to return and finish the job he'd started the day before. He didn't show up. Eventually I went to the company's office to ask what the story was and apparently he'd been scheduled to be someplace else yesterday.

Now, it's not his fault. But why would the company do that? Wouldn't it make more sense to schedule 2 consecutive days for a job, get it finished and get paid?

While at the company's office, I pointed out that I am self-employed. If I don't work, I don't get paid. If I don't get paid, neither will they! All it would have taken was a simple telephone call early yesterday morning to advise me that the electrician would not be arriving and I could have gotten on with my day. But instead, I wasted valuable time and accomplished little as a result.

He's here this morning and it's my sincere hope that he and his assistant are able to finish their job completely.

Then, there's the asphalt guy. His crew is supposed to arrive today to do the prep work on our driveway. I doubt if they're planning to actually do the paving though. Sigh. We'll see. There's a torrential rain and wind storm predicted for tomorrow so that would be a good reason to postpone the job, again. So far I've had no telephone call from that company to say whether or not the crew is really coming - but I'm here for the electrician anyway - at least for a while.

If I ran my own business this way; didn't stay on top of appointments for photo sessions or deliver articles and photographs to publications on time, respecting editorial deadlines; I'd be out of business in short order.

I don't care if someone is a nuclear physicist, refuse collector, employed, unemployed, self-employed, retired - it doesn't matter. Everyone's time has value and should be respected. That is an indication of how much you respect the person as well.