Leaving on a trip this week and wanting to take my iPad with me I scheduled an appointment at the Apple store.
Unfortunately the Apple Store in Denver was pretty packed and I couldn't get in before my trip so I decided to strategically schedule my appointment for an evening in Boulder after I would be there for a meeting.
I arrived 5 minutes prior to my scheduled appointment - having not had the greatest of days: Got into an intenst conversation with a friend, got stuck in traffic causing backed up from an accident which caused me to be rushed when taking a dog for a walk, who proceeded to pee all over my shoe - conveniently soaking into the shoe and my sock, I drove to a meeting which had to be cut short and then to another meeting in Boulder, for which I was late...
Nonetheless, I arrived the Apple and they said, "We are all caught up, someone should see you in just a few minutes - how about you take a seat at this table." I sat down. Played on my phone. Watched the people in the Apple Store. The appointment time came and went and I thought, "It's ok. I need to get this fixed." Employees arrived, others left, and I realized it was time for shift changes. 30 minutes went by and eventually someone came over to see me.
And then another person came to see me.
They had a race to see who could help me faster. And one remarked, "I am not going over to the other table, those people all came in swearing at us already and I don't have the patience to be yelled at right now." Of course, he was likely perpetuating the problem, but I get it.. these people are, well, people. The Lord knows I have my moments of frustration, where I feel like I get a little bit feisty, but to have already walked in like that didn't really make much sense to me. I felt bad for the other table, but was thankful for the help at mine.
"Sugar will always get you further than spice," said the avoidant one. Hah. Perhaps...
Within a few minutes they said, "You are right. It isn't charging. We're just going to give you a new iPad." I joked, "Is it better or worse than mine?" They said it was brand new, not refurbished or anything and likely all of the issues I've ever had with my iPad were likely just issues of the one I had. I joked, "Well, you know... I HAVE an iPad so I really don't feel like I can complain at all." The Genius worker laughed with me, thanked me for the enjoyable meeting and sent me on my way.
My way led me to the bathroom where I washed my hands and the woman next to me asked, "Do you have an Apple product?" I said, "I do." She asked me if I ever went into the Apple store for help - to which I noted I'd just been there. She asked me if I always had a positive experience and I reflected and I said, "Actually, yes. I have." She proceeded to tell me about her seemingly always negative experiences since Steve Jobs died.
I agreed with her, that the company did change a bit, as did the products, with his passing, but not enough for me to blame them for anything. So I shared with her a little bit of a podcast I'd heard back in January from NPR's Invisibilia and This American Life on projecting thoughts. That when we project positive thoughts onto someone or a situation, we are likely to get a positive response the same way we'd get a negative response if we projected negative thoughts.
This isn't a new concept, but for whatever reason it was what she needed to hear in that moment. Honestly, it's also what I need to hear right now. I could have thought "this is a terrible day" (particularly after the dog peed on my shoe and I smelled like urine...) but I just kept pressing on. And the day wasn't terrible.
Sometimes it's the little reminder, or the person who is bold enough to strike up a conversation with a stranger, or simply saying something to someone else to relearn a lesson we've learned time and time again. I want to project positivity. I want to encourage people in my conversations. This is who I was designed to be, and I'm just thankful for the reminder so that I might continue to lean into it even more.
