Show a Little Appreciation… Would Ya?

“You’ve been working really hard”

Our plumber stopped by to fix our bathroom sink.

He came on short notice, fitting us into a busy schedule. When I’d reached him on the phone, I was over a half hour from the house, but told him I could leave right away. Thing is, he couldn’t idle, so was headed to another job first. In the conversation, we missed each other. I expected him to call after the other job, while he expected me to be there in just over 30 minutes. 

The result? He’d waited over an hour in my driveway by the time I got there. 

He wasn’t happy. 

I apologized. 

He still wasn’t happy. But he came in and did the job.

On his way out, I thanked him for waiting. In a friendly way, he brushed it off saying, “I had some phone calls to make anyway.” 

Now, our plumber is a good man, and he’d had a few minutes to let the irritation wear off. But I wonder, how much of his change in tone was the simple acknowledgment of his sacrifice? He had willingly gone out of his way and done a good deed by waiting.

I’ll never know for sure.

But I’m confident of this: Someone on your team – or in your life – needs a simple acknowledgement of the sacrifice and hard work they do. Same for me. 

Like my son observed recently after a contentious conversation, “We could all appreciate one another more.” 

He’s right.