During one of my travels, I was in a hotel and I went to book myself a spa appointment in the hotel spa and fitness floor. While I was making my appointment, two young women walked up to the front desk and asked for five appointments for both of them and another three friends. The officer at the front desk told them that for five to have the appointments together, they would have to come back in the evening by nine. The young women were excited nevertheless because they said that they will be having a dinner function at the hotel ballroom and nine will be just fine as they will be finishing their dinner then. They left happily and the front desk noted their appointments. I made my appointment at nine too. As I was about to leave, a gentleman inquired if he could have his massage at the same time. I heard the front desk officer told him that for the evening, it was all full.
Ten minutes to nine, I was at the front desk waiting for my turn. When I was about to go into the spa room with the therapist at nine, the two young women rushed in, looking flushed, they must have a little too much to drink at the dinner. They came to the front desk, announced nonchalantly their arrival, and then told the front desk that the other three appointments were to be canceled. With no sense of awkwardness, the young women said that their three friends were so drunk they didn’t want their massages anymore.
Let’s look at this situation and connect this experience to our learning about integrity. These are the questions to think about:
1. Did the young women make a promise?
2. Was the promise broken?
3. Take it a step further, how would these young women create their lives with purpose if they keep giving excuses for no show?
In this case, the young women were giving excuses on behalf of their friends. You may say that it was their friends’ fault and if there were any repercussion from this matter, their friends will face the consequences themselves. Radically, each person will have their part of the bargain. In life, every experience is a lesson for each person to come to terms with his/her own shortcomings or ‘shadows’.
How did the actions of the young women affect the spa business and the officer at the front desk? At first, the officer turned away a customer thinking that the appointments were full. When the three appointments were canceled, did the company lose three sales? Or did the officer and the masseurs lose their take for the day?
If it is true that there is a spiral effect, and every action we put out into the world, will come back to us like a returning boomerang, what do you think the young women will experience in their work, relationship and business? Would they also experience customers promising them something but later pull out? Would they work with people who will use their work but would not pay them for their worth? Think about all the working conditions where you don’t like and see if you have also done in the past, dumping your ‘shadows’ on someone too?
These are the simple three ways to live with integrity:
One
Say and mean it!
Two
Say and do it!
Three
Say and live it!
There are ways to create a life that is meaningful to you and to people you will interact with while you do life. Wherever you may be, always feel good to make others feel good about feeling good. Make this your life purpose and see goodness unfold everyday in your work, your business and in your relationship.
