Opportunity to be Nice

Rudeness seems to be the new normal, especially because it is modeled from behind the presidential seal. Many people have merrily followed suit, thinking it’s all the rage. Not many take pains in being nice anymore. Unless you are in the service industry. 

Which we are. 

We run a Medical Transcription School and every day, we deal with people, potential students all. Some inquiries ask non-sequitur questions or ask about what you have just explained; some are just plain arrogant, as though saying, “I am a customer; I am always right.” 

I take these as opportunities to be nice. 

     

When your patience is running thin, it’s an opportunity to be nice. 

When you’re about to bark a scathing reply, it’s an opportunity to be nice. 

When you’re ready to turn your back and walk out, it’s an opportunity to be nice. 

When banging the phone seems the only option, it’s an opportunity to be nice. 

This opportunity has a name: grace, which is what you need to be nice to someone rude. Anybody can be nice to someone nice. But if you are nice to someone who isn’t, you actually feel nice.  

Those bombers (the inquiries who give us a hard time) usually are not interested in Medical Transcription anyway. Those who are the opposite become our students and friends, and together, we create a happy place where being nice is a way of life. 

Opportunities to be nice still come and go from forces outside, which we welcome.  

But from the forces inside our Medical Transcription School (students, teachers, and staff), being nice is like breathing. You don’t even know you’re doing it.