Simmer down and listen

So I find myself thinking this several times a day. I feel like we are all so busy and rushing so much that we don't even take time to think or listen anymore. Like the other day at work some guy yelled at me that the self checkout machine didn't give him his cash back. Well the cash was already out of the machine and as he was yelling at me the machine was saying "cash is dispensed below the scanner" Now, I;m sure he was in a hurry and there was more to his side of this interaction but once I came over and showed him where his money was he said "Well the machine should tell you or show you where it comes out. I didn't see it." Which is true the machine should do that but it's also true that it did do that. If he would have simmered down and listened he wouldn't have had to yell at me and cause everyone around him to look at him like he was a jackass.

This doesn't only happen at work though I feel like even with your loved ones they can assume they know how you are going to finish what you're saying and they can get mad and interrupt causing unnecessary arguments. I'll admit I've been on both sides of this with some of my loved ones. So I am now making an effort to simmer down and listen, or to pause and think before automatically going to the worst case scenario.

Another example I have seen of this is some parents with their children. Now I know that kids can spend all their waking hours saying "mom, momma, mommy, mom, mother!" or "dad, dad, daddy, dad!" but sometimes they really do have something important to say. For example a few months ago in a store I saw a very busy mom who was trying to hurry out the store to get her kid to daycare and then her to work. She was busy, hurrying, and distracted. Well her little boy kept saying, "mom, momma, mom" to which she kept replying, "Just a minute buddy I'm doing something." Well it turns out he urgently needed the restroom as he had a bladder infection and in a tiny kiddo that gives you even less warning for your urgent needs then in adults. So poor kiddo wet his pants. The mom was great and sweet and comforted him. However, I'm sure she was also much later to work because of this situation.

So I think that we all need to take a breath, simmer down, realize we are not chicken little and the sky is not falling, and listen to each other. And please even if you're in a hurry don't yell at the checkout person. It's rude and can throw off their whole day. Plus at SELF checkout there is pretty much only one person in control of your whole order, I'll give you a hint..... It's not me or it would just be called checkout. ;) For goodness sake be happy sometimes people. It's much more fun!