Editor's Corner

People Happen, Keep Punching...

A lifelong friend reached out to me the other day to share something that happened to him.  “Bill,” (not his real name) has been a local, “one man show” housepainter for as long as I can remember and he is very, very good at it.  Over the course of his career, he has painted countless homes and individual rooms and has always worked out any issues with his clients, successfully navigated mid-project change orders, and did what he had to do in every case to make sure he got it right   Even people who may not like him personally, respect his skill.

Anyway, “Bill” recently met a new client who had a project for him to tackle, and he thought he had all the information he needed, so he started preparing the rooms and quickly got the primer applied.  Almost before the primer had a chance to dry, the client, while claiming to like what he'd accomplished, began touching up his work.  Normally, he would not have been all warm and fuzzy with that and would have much preferred to discuss the matter and do all of the touch ups himself, however, knowing that this particular client is a talented artist and respecting her ability to create some amazing canvases, he didn’t really mind this initial touch up, because what the heck, it was after all her canvas being painted. 

However, what got his goat was that the client decided that she was actually looking for a lot more than she apparently thought he was capable of doing and had a friend, who was a big-name contractor come in and totally rework what he had done with different colors and textures.  All that remained of what he had completed was two or three small accent walls that got buried in the now completely repainted project.

Needless to say, “Bill” was stunned by what he saw.  Not because it wasn’t good, but because if the client had approached him and told him more, shared the new color palettes and ideas, he could certainly have produced an equal or better result than the big name contractor.  Additionally, she had already sent along his payment and wanted him to keep it because she said she did like what he had done.

Before discussing this with me, my friend had run the gamut of feeling insulted, disrespected, angry, horrified, with a lot more emotions thrown in.  Having been through the wringer quite a bit myself lately, I knew of only one thing that I could tell my friend that would ease his angst and frustration.  

Like so many, he has been going through a lot over the past several years, however, even more so, as a lifelong friend, I am aware that he has been taking more than his share of punches lately.  Mostly small stuff really, but just a ton of it, and almost all of it coming from people within his inner circles.  Sadly, knowing him as well as I do, I know it has been causing him to be more and more reclusive and he has been keeping his distance from most people.

Regarding this particular situation, we both came to the same easy conclusion that she actually did not like what he had done, and he will be picking the crow feathers out of his teeth for a while over it.  As far as the tidal wave of emotions involved, I suggested that we do the best and only thing we could do, and that is to give this situation to our Lord in prayer.  And we did just that.  

Both of us came away from that prayer with a refreshed outlook which was essentially the same for both of us.  No matter our best intentions or efforts in any given situation, the road ahead will always have bumps and potholes and along the way some people are going to throw punches.  It sucks, but we cannot take it personally.  We have to put on our thickest skin and keep moving down the road, and give it all to Him, because at the end of the day, we serve a mighty God who sent His Only Son to take our much deserved punishment on a Roman Cross 2000 years ago, and everything else pales in comparison to that.

After our discussion and prayer, “Bill” and I, both of us being businessmen as well as followers of Jesus who do our best to do as we believe He would have us do, agreed that since what he painted was not to the client’s liking, the unopened envelope with the enclosed uncashed check would be returned.  The time spent would simply be chalked up to experience.

My friends, this situation is a great reminder for all of us.  Things don’t always play out as expected so whatever you do and whatever your days look like, always remember that until we are called Home, yesterday is history, the sun will rise tomorrow, there will be storms to navigate, and most of us will get to climb whatever hills there are to climb, and for all the “Bills” out there, there will be other clients and other houses to paint.