Working Wounded: Handling a Bad Work Day
Nov. 15, 2006 — -- Have you ever had a bad day? A really bad day?
And by bad day, I mean the kind of day where you lose 10 years of data from your hard drive, lose all your identification, cash and credit cards at an airport 3,000 miles from home and your doctor calls you to say that all of the easy to treat things have been ruled out concerning that nausea you've had for the last month, so now you'll need to go in for a CT scan of your lower abdomen. That, my friends, qualifies as a bad day. I can tell you this from experience because it happened to me last week.
Sure, I got a lot of support from my sweetie, the front desk manager at the Marriott and my client. Amidst the mess that had become my life during these hellacious 24 hours, enter Mark Hawken and Derrick Moe. Even though I've never met either Mark or Derrick, both helped to give me hope. And I think their actions will inspire even the most cynical person reading this blog.
First, I got an e-mail from Mark telling me that he found my wallet. He said that he had tried contacting all my credit card companies to get an address so he could reach me. After a bunch of digging, someone finally gave him my email address.
Not content to just locate me, he said in his e-mail that he was FedExing my wallet back to me. In an apologetic tone he said he'd used the $20 in my wallet to pay for the shipping. But it wasn't until I saw that he worked in Jamaica that I realized that the shipping charge would be almost three times the money that was in my wallet. He never asked to be reimbursed for the difference (of course, I reimbursed him for this).
What a guy. Hours of research, and he paid for the majority of the shipping costs. For all the cynical talk of people who only know how to look out for number one, I was reminded that there are good Samaritans there are out there. No make that great Samaritans.
Later, I received an e-mail from Derrick when I finally made it to my hotel room, sans wallet and much of the contents on my hard drive. His e-mail began, "I enjoy your Working Wounded column on ABCnews.com. You and I are of at the opposite ends of the political spectrum, but I still look forward to your column and the topics you address. I am a fan of Don Rumsfeld (I had written a column critical of Rummy) and the terrific job he has done in running two 21st century wars. I think his vision for the Dept. of Defense in this century is ingenious and greatly needed -- fast, quick-strike special ops-type military. His leadership in a tough situation will be missed by me."
When was the last time you heard from someone who held views violently opposed to yours in a tone that sounded like a fan letter? For me the answer is simple: never.
Derrick reminded me how much negative politics has seeped down into the every day conversations of average citizens -- how much we've turned politics into competitive banter where thoughtfulness takes a back seat to insults and grandstanding.
And it got me thinking abotu how much of this negative energy pervades work places across the country, So I came up with an idea -- a Working Wounded Challenge, if you will. There will be no cash reward and no fame and fortune. You'll have to be content with improving the lives of you and your coworkers to win this challenge.
Here is: I challange all of you to think about what you can do to bring the spirit of Mark and Derrick to your workplace. Look for a chance for a random act of kindness while trying to be less interested in lecturing your colleagues and more focused on learning something about them.
Since we can't clone Mark and Derrick, it's up to all of us to bring their spirit to work.
Quote of the Week
"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." -- Eleanor Roosevelt
Book Excerpt of the Week
From: "Gray Matters: The Workplace Survival Guide" (Wiley, 2004)
"Tiger Woods, Barbra Streisand, Toni Morrison, Bill Gates, Julia Roberts, Lance Armstrong. Would you describe each of them as competent? You would probably agree that all of them are far more than competent -- they are all at the top of their game, better at what they do than perhaps anyone. Now imagine Tiger Woods running Microsoft. Imagine Barbra Streisand on the golf course, and Julia Roberts racing in the Tour de France. Would you still describe them as competent? Would you rush out to see Bill Gates's new film or buy his CD? Probably not. What happened? Nothing about any of these people changed at all. Only the context in which you were thinking about them changed. And that's the whole point."
Blog Ballot Results
Here are the results from a recent Working Wounded Blog/ABCNEWS.com online ballot:
What grade would you give Donald Rumsfeld?
Incomplete, 52.2 percent
A, 9.9 percent
B, 8.7 percent
C, 29 percent
Bob Rosner is a best-selling author, an internationally syndicated columnist, popular speaker, and a recent addition to the community of bloggers. He welcomes your comments at bob@workingwounded.com.
This work is the opinion of the columnist and in no way reflects the opinion of ABC News.