Choices are easy. Dealing with the consequences maybe not so much.
I’ve been trying to figure out a way to tell this story for a few months now. I needed an angle…a way to find a certain level of resolution so there could be at least one small lesson pulled from it.
It came to me yesterday. The lesson: Learn to live with your choices — good or bad.
Making choices is easy.
Sticking with those choices is the hard part.
How a drive-thru works
It was a few months ago, I had all three of my boys in the car, and we were headed home from wherever we just were having a great time, I’m sure.
We stopped to get some lunch and instead of dealing with the ins and outs of car seats, I decided to rock the drive-thru because hell yeah. Ordered through the speaker thing, pulled up to the second window, and threw it in park to wait for our order. Regular drive-thru stuff.
But then I got that weird feeling you get when you can sense that someone is staring darts at you. It was creepy and uncomfortable so I peeked into my side-view mirror and there she was. Maybe 4 cars behind me. Late 40s suburban mom. Pretty-ish. Wearing head-to-toe workout gear although I don’t think she was coming from or going to the gym. Driving an SUV — one of those huge ones.
Is she staring at me? It looks like she wants to kill someone. No, she’s not staring at me. Wait, she IS staring at me. Does she want to kill me? Why would she be mad at me? Oh my god, I think she wants to kill me. Oh shit she’s getting out of her car and coming over here.
You guys…she got out of her car in the drive-thru lane and was coming straight at me. Still mad at me, for some reason. No weapon in hand. I checked…for real. That’s how crazy her expression was.
She asked what I was doing in the most condescending tone ever. I told her I was waiting for my food. I ordered. I pulled up. I paid. They’re making it. I’m waiting. Then I added, “That’s how drive-thrus work.” because I can be pretty passive-aggressive when I have to be and she needed to back the F up.
Her choices
Turns out she was mad at herself and instead of living with the consequences of her choices, she wanted to get mad at me. Then, when she realized I wasn’t having it, she knocked on the window of the drive-thru (reminder, her car is parked 4 cars back in line and she’s on foot), and yelled at them. The guy looked at me like WTF and I gave him that wide-eyed shrug letting him know that I wasn’t with this crazy lady.
Turns out that this lady had a child alone at home that she needed to get home to in a super duper hurry. I mean, I get that. Young kid home alone isn’t the best situation.
But then what the f**k are you doing stopping at this drive-thru?
Poor choice, but it was your choice, so deal with it, Karen. (I don’t know her name, but there’s like an 88% chance it was Karen). It’s lunchtime, there’s a line at the drive-thru, we all hope your kid is ok but also you need to shut up. We care…we really do…but not more than you do, and here we both are waiting for a sandwich.
Behind every bad choice is a test
We all try to make good choices. In business, in relationships, in choosing which line to stand in at the grocery store. When we make good choices, it’s easy to live with the outcome.
But when we’re stuck dealing with the result of a bad choice, that’s where you have to decide how you’re going to deal with it. That’s the true test of character.
Some of us take responsibility and learn from it. Some of us desperately point blame at others. And then there are some of us who think it’s everyone else’s responsibility to go out of their way to make the bad choice less bad. My boys and I just want our damn lunch, Karen. Quit trying to talk to me now like we’re friends. The secret’s out…you’re crazy. My window is up…take the hint.
I’m not really sure of the odds, but out of all of life’s choices, there’s going to be a lot of bad ones. That’s just how it all works. After the inevitable bad choice, you can either be a Karen or you can accept and learn from it.
Own up. Learn. Play the long game. It’s the only way to inevitably have success in your business, or relationship, or whatever.
Don’t be Karen.*
#bewhatyoumake
*unless your name is actually Karen…then you do you, Karen. Just don’t be crazy drive-thru lady Karen. We cool? Cool.
