Old Reliable

One of my biggest pet peeves is when people say they are going to do something and they don't do it. Perhaps I'm too sensitive (wouldn't be the first time) but I feel like when someone doesn't follow through on a promise, it shows a bit of disrespect. In a way, it kinda shows how not important you are to that person.

Now, I have to admit, as a young stud growing up in the 80's and 90's, I felt like I could get away with anything. My mom asked me to do my chores, "I will, in a minute" was my instant reply. A minute turned into an hour. An hour turned into tomorrow. Before I knew it, I had forgotten. My bad. Sorry Mom. I remember one time I was coming home from school, and I got a flat tire on my bike. I called home and asked to be picked up. Mom and Tito Jim were usually sleeping as they used to work the grave yard shift. But Mom answered and said she would pick me up in 15 mins. Well, she never did. She fell back asleep. The story I'm sticking to is that Tito Jim convinced her that I was a big boy and could walk home. THAT BASTARD!! I know it wasn't your fault Mom. You can do no wrong in my eyes. I love you. While I don't disagree with Tito Jim, the fact that expectations had already been set and it was the age of no pagers or cell phones, they should have picked my ass up. So I waited half an hour and eventually got the message and started walking. Good thing I had to walk a couple of miles with a bike, because when I started, I was fuming.

Anyways, if there are any little kids reading this or even adults for that matter, reliability and follow through go a long way. If you say you are going to do something, well, DO IT. If you say you're gonna hit me at 6pm, Hit me!! Everyone has a cell phone. Every cell phone I've ever had has had a clock with an ALARM. I'll be the first to admit that I forget everything. That's why I write shit down. That's why I use my calendar in Outlook, gmail, yahoo, and my iPhone to remind me of everything. Nowadays, there is no excuse. And if you aren't gonna be able to keep your promise, letting the person know ahead of time is infinitely better than not saying anything at all. Now one might argue that there are different levels of promises and I need to be a little more understanding. While this may be true, I guarantee you if you treat every promise and expectation as if its the #1 priority in your life, you will never lose anyone's respect. Like I said, you don't have to do everything you say if you let the person know ahead of time. To me it's just common courtesy. And better yet, if you do realize you forgot or know you will not be able to keep your promise, talking to people with your voice is always better than email, text, or IM. Being apologetic goes a long way.

I really don't think it's that hard to do. I mean, you are the one who's setting expectations most of the time. If you don't think you can do it, then give yourself a buffer. Better yet, if its time related, have the person remind you. Now the onus is no longer on just you.

Let me conclude with how I've changed over the years. There are people I know I can rely on and people, well, who are not so reliable. I can count the number of people in the former on my hands. I'm going to keep it that way. Everyone else, I will just lower expectations so I'm not constantly disappointed. If expectations are met, then its a bonus.