THE LAW OF THE GARBAGE TRUCK
By: Elle Buell
Be calm and cool and steady...
2 Timothy 4:5 AMP
When I was working for an advertising company in Dayton many years ago, I was unfortunately in a pretty toxic environment daily. Being the nature of a position in sales, everyone was under constant pressure to perform and sell and make the bottom line, and that pressure often bubbled over onto other people in the form of frustration, negativity and rudeness.
After a while, I got used to it. I became accustomed to being yelled at and the sting of “unfriendliness” lost its hurt. What took me a long time to realize is that I had become numb to this behavior in our office because I had adopted the same behavior. I started reading a devotion by Joel Osteen called Every Day A Friday and slowly I found a way to overcome some of the environment I was being subject to daily. Here’s an excerpt from the book that has never left me:
“David J. Pollay, author of The Law of the Garbage Truck, was in a New York City taxicab when a car jumped out from a parking place right in front of it. His cabbie had to slam on the brakes, the car skidded, and the tires squealed, but the taxi stopped an inch from the other car. The driver of the other car whipped his head around, and honked and screamed in anger. But David was surprised when his cabbie just smiled real big, and waved at him.
David said, “That man almost totaled your cab and sent us to the hospital. I can’t believe you didn’t yell back at him. How were you able to keep your cool?”
The cab driver’s response, which David calls “The Law of the Garbage Truck,” was this: “Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, bull of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they look for a place to dump it. And if you let them, they’ll dump it on you. So when someone wants to dump on you, don’t take it personally. It doesn’t have anything to do with you. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Believe me, you’ll be happier.
Successful people don’t allow garbage trucks to unload on them. If somebody dumps a load on you, don’t be upset. Don’t be angry. Don’t be offended. If you make that mistake, you’ll end up carrying their loads around and eventually you’ll dump them on somebody else.” (Joel Osteen, Every Day a Friday)
Osteen, Joel. Every Day a Friday. New York, FaithWords Hachette Book Group, 2011.
Be calm and cool and steady...
2 Timothy 4:5 AMP
When I was working for an advertising company in Dayton many years ago, I was unfortunately in a pretty toxic environment daily. Being the nature of a position in sales, everyone was under constant pressure to perform and sell and make the bottom line, and that pressure often bubbled over onto other people in the form of frustration, negativity and rudeness.
After a while, I got used to it. I became accustomed to being yelled at and the sting of “unfriendliness” lost its hurt. What took me a long time to realize is that I had become numb to this behavior in our office because I had adopted the same behavior. I started reading a devotion by Joel Osteen called Every Day A Friday and slowly I found a way to overcome some of the environment I was being subject to daily. Here’s an excerpt from the book that has never left me:
“David J. Pollay, author of The Law of the Garbage Truck, was in a New York City taxicab when a car jumped out from a parking place right in front of it. His cabbie had to slam on the brakes, the car skidded, and the tires squealed, but the taxi stopped an inch from the other car. The driver of the other car whipped his head around, and honked and screamed in anger. But David was surprised when his cabbie just smiled real big, and waved at him.
David said, “That man almost totaled your cab and sent us to the hospital. I can’t believe you didn’t yell back at him. How were you able to keep your cool?”
The cab driver’s response, which David calls “The Law of the Garbage Truck,” was this: “Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, bull of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they look for a place to dump it. And if you let them, they’ll dump it on you. So when someone wants to dump on you, don’t take it personally. It doesn’t have anything to do with you. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Believe me, you’ll be happier.
Successful people don’t allow garbage trucks to unload on them. If somebody dumps a load on you, don’t be upset. Don’t be angry. Don’t be offended. If you make that mistake, you’ll end up carrying their loads around and eventually you’ll dump them on somebody else.” (Joel Osteen, Every Day a Friday)
Osteen, Joel. Every Day a Friday. New York, FaithWords Hachette Book Group, 2011.