Cranky Cranky..

I have been known to be cranky.

Ask my family, friends and co-workers. They know.

Sometimes my crankiness is caused by the actions of others. Sometimes it is caused by hormones (I get crankier every 28 days or so.....) It's true, either externally or internally caused, I get cranky.

This is not to say that those around me deserve my wrath. Even people who are purposely rude or hurtful to me don't deserve my ire. I am reminded of a debate I had with a Superhost instructor in the mid 1980's. She was trying to tell the class that the "customer is always right." I disagreed. When a customer is saying hateful or abusivse things to a business owner or worker, they are not "right" However, as a worker or business person, we are "always a professional" and have the ability to deal with any behavior in a respectful way (for both the hot tempered customer and for ourselves and others around us).

I was on the Skytrain today with three children (my own two year old and seven month old baby and another four year old child). A woman almost tripped on a teenagers bag (which was blocking the door). The woman was mad at the teen for having her bag there. The teen was angry that her bag was knocked over. The teen repeatedly (and loudly) referred to the woman as a "b*tch" I felt familiar tension. People were cranky.

I leaned over to the four year old and tickled his hand, I leaned over and kissed the baby and played with the two year old hair. All the children started to relax and giggle. The woman (who was sitting across from us) watched and started to smile at the children. Soon the crankiness was forgotten and everyone was one there way again.

As for the cranky behavior of the woman and the teen. Were either of them right? Who knows!!! All I know is that this time, I decided to be pleasant in the face of all that crankiness. It was a choice I made. I think my choice had the most positive outcome.

May I make this kind of choice when faced with crankiness - including my own :)