I was really upset the other day about some inconsistencies in my day to day relationships and started thinking about the devotion I had been working on. Jesus was surrounded by inconsistent people. He was definitely singing the song “I’ve been lied on, cheated, talked about, miss-treated, rebuked and scorned, laughed about sure as you’re born”. But He WAS King Jesus. Honey loved talking about his career as a sales manager for a major soft drink company. He developed a pre-sales system that was adopted by that corporation and still used today. One of his pet peeves, though, were store owners who schemed to cheat the company. Honey held the notion that you treated people fairly, did your best to provide them the best service, and that you should expect the same courtesy in return. One store owner did not share that conviction. The company offered a huge sales promotion and the store owners would profit by buying extra drinks at a very desirable savings and then, because people were coming to get the on-sale offer, also be expected to probably make even more money when customers picked up other items in the store. This particular owner ordered a huge amount of the cut-cost drinks and had them delivered. He took the extra drinks that he knew he wouldn’t sell and ‘hid’ them in a storage bin at the back of the store. His plan was to take the extra drinks, after the promotion was over, put them back onto the floor at the regular price and make a bigger profit after the sale. But that wasn’t what the contract said. The man was conniving to cheat the company and Honey found out about it when a salesman from another company (the bread man) was delivering his week’s supplies and put them in that particular bin and saw the stacks of drinks. He called Honey, who didn’t throw a public fit, but went with the company’s delivery man and just drove to the back of the store and loaded the excess drinks into the truck. They put the standard delivery supplies (a previously set number of cases that the owner had been getting for years) into the regular area and filled up the display area. Honey went to the office and dropped off the bill for the delivery just like he’d always done, but the owner started to hand it back to him and told him he would need the delivery that week. Honey informed him that the surplus drinks had been picked up and all that was in the store was the ‘new’ shipment. Again the man protested and said he wouldn’t need or pay for any more drinks. Honey showed him the bill and told him that all he had been charged for was the difference owed between the promotional price and the regular price. The owner got red, wadded up the bill and threw it at Honey yelling, “I do what I want in my store and no #@$%^company is going to tell me otherwise. Honey reminded him of the contract which stated, “Only drinks sold during the campaign would be covered by the promotional cost, any soft drinks left on the premises after the campaign would be charged according to the regular price. Again the owner protested, cursing and screaming that he didn’t have any drinks left over (so why wouldn’t he need the week’s delivery?)and wasn’t going to be charged for something that he didn’t have. Honey pointed out to him that the drinks stored in the extra bin had been removed and that indeed, all that was actually in the store at that moment was the display drinks and the usual supply stacked in the back. The owner went wild. Honey listened to him for a few minutes and when it was obvious that the guy was just getting more and more out of control, turned, said, “You can take this up with my boss, but you have a nice day” and walked out of the store by the front door where his delivery man was waiting in the truck. The owner followed him, still cursing and screaming and waving the crumpled up bill in the air like a rock that he was going to throw. Honey got into the truck and closed the door. Suddenly, the raging owner’s hand came through the open window and grabbed him by the shirt. Honey started to open the door and made eye contact with the man. “Buddy, you need to let go of me now.” He spoke soft and slow and didn’t break eye contact. It took a few seconds, but the man got the gist that Honey was done with the situation. Honey would have had those drinks, an enormous amount of money, taken out of his check had he left the man get away with the theft…but what had made Honey mad, was that the man, whom he’d considered a professional and personal friend for so many years, would decide to do such an underhanded thing against him. Honey went out of his way to make sure he knew each customer, knew about their history, knew their families, and knew their character. He had trusted this man and had a close relationship with him and his son. It was not just an aggravation to have the event occur, it was a personal affront. The man stepped back. Honey started the truck. He looked at the man and told him again to “have a nice day.” His partner, frozen in place with huge eyes and breathless silence held onto his seat. The man started screaming again as soon as the truck started backing up out of the parking lot. He ran after them for a few steps, waving his fist, cursing and kicking dirt. Honey and his partner barely spoke all the way back to the plant. He went in to check out for the day and behind the secretary a door opened. It was his supervisor asking him if he could step into his office for a minute. Honey finished his checkout and went in to where his boss and the head of the local plant waited. They asked him to sit down and he sat and in his mind he began thinking about where he was going to work next. “We got a call a little while ago from Mr. (we’ll call him Joe, just to give him a name)Joe and he tells us that you had quite the visit with him this afternoon. “ Honey was already packing up his belongings in his head. “We just need to hear it from you.” Honey waited, the boss went on. “Did Mr. Joe really call you all the things that he told us he did?” Honey looked down. “I don’t know what he said, but, yes, he called me quite a few things.” The two men went on and told Honey everything that the angry owner had told them and Honey agreed that it was pretty accurate. Finally, both men shook their heads. The senior boss spoke, calling him by his last name, and standing up with hand extended, “I want you to know that you’re a better man than me. We looked at the contract and you were right. We’ll count the cases you brought back and have it on file. You showed more professional restraint than any man should have if everything he said he did to you is true. We want to send you out for a steak dinner on us. Take your family and have a good time.” Honey left that meeting glad that he’d done the right thing. He never could figure out why Mr. Joe would call and complain about the interaction and confess to all the things that he had said and how he had acted and NOT realize that he was standing up for Honey instead of getting him fired. People are amazing. Honey wasn’t always so controlled, but there were times that God just put a sheltering arm around him and kept him safe and steady. I think of that event when things get out of hand in my day . I’m not a person who would be able to stand like that…I usually leave a confrontation, but it makes me glad that Honey could imitate Christ in not losing control in a bad situation. What’s your day like today. Are you under pressure? People not appreciating you the way they ought to ? Are you being falsely accused? ‘Count it all joy’. Christ is coming soon and every trial makes us stronger. Every moment of our life should be fixed on glorifying Him. It’s not the opinion of the other people around you that counts in the end…it’s the relationship that you develop with Jesus that will hold you through eternity. Be blessed and when you’v e done all else, STAND!
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 19:01:39 +0000
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