Perhaps you have met a few people in your life who have just rubbed you the wrong way. Thus … when velvet meets burlap.
Even after all these years of being retired, I have a clear recollection of certain “funny-turned” customers who made my job in the car business a bit challenging. I could write a sitcom/drama that would leave you shaking your head. “No, that couldn’t have happened.” Oh, but it did.
There was one particular episode that pushed my nice buttons to the edge of frayed witchiness.
I always tried to make my customers feel welcome and comfortable. I wanted them to leave the dealership knowing they were treated like I would want to be treated. It wasn’t rocket science.
Here’s my story …
The husband smiled as he walked into my office. The wife, oh, that gal brought with her an air of “better-than-me-ness” that told me this was not going to be fun.
The questions she asked me were not typical questions. Even my well-seasoned ol’ truck guys would have been left shaking their heads and saying, “Did she really ask you that?” She was trying to make me feel like I didn’t know what I was doing. If she had asked me about towing capacities and axle ratios, I would have gladly answered her. No, her questions made no sense. I did my best. I was just waiting for her to ask me what kind of chemicals were in the paint they used on the truck. Yes, those kinds of questions.
Finally, she pointed her freshly manicured finger at me and said, “Could I speak to someone who knows what they are doing?” I kid you not, those were her exact words.
It had been a long time since my blood had boiled to that high of a degree.
I went to my boss. He knew I was not a happy truck lady, as both of my hands swirled around in a rare, yet familiar, manner that told him Janet has her niceness rubbed off by someone full of burlap … to put it nicely.
“Brad, you need to get that woman out of my office. I do not deserve to be treated that way.” I told him what she had said. He shook his head in disbelief. “Janet, does she not know you are the truck lady?” I had to laugh. I had allowed her to get to me. That made me madder. My laughing came from utter over-the-top frustration.
Here we see Janet’s alter ego: “The Truck Lady.” (Photo provided)
He called our internet manager who came and took her and her husband out of my office. The husband just shook his head and looked at me with an “I’m so sorry” look. Poor man, he had to live with her.
She was the most burlapy woman I had ever encountered.
She literally wore the niceness right off me. My velvet feelings had been worn thin by her burlap attitude.
I felt sorry for her. Well, I felt sorry for her after I calmed down. I might have taken a long walk around the car lot to settle down. Why do some people feel the need to make others feel “less than”? What a sad way to live life.
I always thought kindness could cut through the toughest burlap. She proved me wrong.
The thing is that the new guys at the dealership would come to me and ask me questions about trucks, not just because I was willing to help them but because I had the knowledge they needed. I had no problem going to Steve, our product knowledge guy, to ask him any questions to which I could not search and find the answer.
The car/truck business brought about some, let’s just say interesting, experiences. I could write a book about them … but I won’t. Maybe I will add a few stories here and there. Some things you would not believe … but they happened. I will always leave out or change the names to protect the guilty.
In life, there will always be people who are like burlap. They will wear the niceness right off us, but at the end of the day, we need to realize they are not our enemy but their own worst enemy. Life will never be enough for them, so they feel the need to make others feel “less-than.” They want to show the world that they are the “better-than” person. Sad thing is that their words prove them to be wrong.
Some of our greatest challenges will be of dealing with burlap people. May our velvet rub off on them, even when they wear our velvet thin.
Janet Hart Leonard can be contacted at janethartleonard@gmail.com or followed on Facebook or Instagram (@janethartleonard). Visit janethartleonard.com.