Editorial December 15, 1997 Issue

More peace in your life

Mark Swinney

"Get out of here! Get out of my store!" That was what the owner of a small ski shop had to say to me the first time I ever saw him. I just love all the sports that people do in the winter, especially skiing. I had started a job that I had dreamed of one day having—that of a sales representative selling skis, boots, and bindings to ski shops.

The next time I went in that man's store, he talked to me quite gruffly for a moment and threw me out again. And the next time, too! Each time he would do this I would be still, not argue, and listen carefully. Some of the other sales representatives who called on this man told me that this was the way he treated everyone, and most of them avoided meeting with him whenever possible.

His store was so small that I easily could have given him up as a lost cause—there wasn't enough potential commission to make any work with him worthwhile. Yet I just couldn't. Even though this man had apparently developed an aversion to most people, he didn't have a legitimate reason to despise me. He didn't even really know me.

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