My Expectations Were Not Met Three Times Today,

and that was a good thing.

I was at the gym this morning, riding the stationary bike.  A plump, grayhaired man was on the bike next to me.  When he finished his ride, he wandered away from the bike, leaving his newspaper spread neatly over the electronic display screen.  I thought he was going to get a wipe to wipe the bike down after his ride.

Instead he got he got a drink a water.

Now he will get a wipe, I thought.

He paused to stretch out his right calf on the waist high plastic fence that marked of part of the cardio area.

Now he will get a wipe.  Wrong again.

He resumed his bike ride and reading his newspaper.  He was still riding when I left to get my damp wuoe to clean the bicycle.

After the gym, I went to the local Barnes and Noble, to order for this month’s book for  book club.  I was the second in line waiting for the lady in front of me to find out if her titles were available.  While I was waiting, a middle school looking boy stepped closer to the woman than from where I was standing.  I figured he had not seen me and when the person at the desk asked who was next, he would say he was.  Since I had not more obviously staked my claim by standing closer to the first person in line, I was resigned to waiting my turn.  The young man looked at me and said, “Please go next.”   “Thanks!” I smiled at him in reply.  The book was not in stock and I ordered it from Amazon when I got home.

My husband likes to eat lunch at 11.  I got home at 11:30 and figured he had already eaten.  Since I had brought 4 premade salads at the grocery store, I was not concerned about having to make lunch.  He surprised me by saying he thought I would want a warm lunch and was going to cook hotdogs and baked beans for both of us. They were delicious.

In each of these cases, I ‘assumed’ the worst and was glad to be wrong in each case.  We should let people have the opportunity to do their job or the right thing, before we ‘know’ they will not.   How often have you been accused of sitting on your ass, when you were actually trying to help a customer?  Or have you thought someone else was sitting on theirs because of an assumption?