It is hard to be.......

Everything to everyone.  As a small business owner, I find there is never enough of me to go around.  This morning I was half way to work when my husband called and needed my help.  I, of course went back home to help the situation at hand.  I posted to facebook that I would have to open the shop a bit late.  As a shop owner, that can't afford to do any different, I run my shop by myself, 7 days a week.  I cannot go on spur of the moment outings ( I probably miss that the most).  I have to plan sometimes weeks in advance to get time, and I mean hours not days, out of the store.  I have a great few friends and a mother I don't know what I would do without, that come and help when they can.  I find myself at their mercy.  If they have time and the want to fill in for me for a couple of hours.  That is not to say that I don't have many offers.  I have people (good people) all the time offer to help.  And as simple as it can be there are that many other things that can go wrong so I usually opt for staying here myself.

In saying that, I missed a customer this morning.  She sent a facebook message to ask what time I opened.  I didn't get the message until she was headed home because I was dealing with what needed to be dealt with at home.  I apologized, she accepted... she was truly very gracious about it and assured me that she would be back.

I just want to say Thank you to all of you that understand that as Small Business Owners/Operators.  We feel bad when things like this happen but we have no choice.  We do everything in our power to be here for you because our posted hours are as important to us as they are to you.  But on occasion when we cannot be there, THANK YOU for not being to upset with us, for understanding that we have lives that sometimes interfere with our businesses whether we want them to or not.  Thank you for not making us feel worse about a bad situation.  Today, this customer made me feel so much better just because I realized she was not angry or upset with me, she didn't post a bad review, or say bad words about me or the store.  She just excused me for something that was out of my control.  She was kind and polite.  It was a refreshing difference in what we sometimes see.

If this makes you think about the how you treated someone recently, or your reaction to something that happened that didn't make you happy.  Did you react with kindness?  I hope so because the person on the receiving end was probably very grateful if you did.

Kindness Matters