This was my first client. I was just starting off with my practice. Client was a small company with limited finances and no admin staff. As a gesture of support in the beginning, I agreed to have the documents / records picked from their office at no additional cost. Over time, the company grew, they got more employees, moved to a bigger place, but my person was still going to collect the documents from their office.
Then one day, I asked the client to send the records to our office through their delivery boys. It was not a pleasant experience, they got upset about the fact that we were not sending a pick up boy any more.
What the client did not realise was that the entire gesture of I sending a pickup person was only for initial support and not a long term service.
One of those days we ended up working late in office. My house was a walking distance from the office and a friend's house was a 45 minute drive. That day my friend borrowed my bike to go home as it was late night and I could walk home.
This happened a couple of times more. By now, my friend was just informing me that he was taking the bike, instead of asking.
Then one day my friend took the keys and drove the bike, and probably forgot to tell me. I had to leave for a last minute meeting in the evening and behold.... the bike is missing.
When I discussed this issue with my friend the next day, he was not very pleased about it.
We all make this mistake in the initial excitement of any relationship whether it is personal life, professional life, as a friend, as a boss, as a team member, as a boyfriend / girlfriend.
In the beginning of the relationship, we go that extra mile to please the other person and somehow the receiver of such gestures begins to think of it as his right. But as time passes by, we have to stop doing those little special things.
Maybe because of time constraints, other commitments, cost constraints. Whatever the reason, the fact is that we stop something and then it is not a pleasant experience. The question we need to ask is that whether it was worth starting in the first place???
I used to pick her up from the airport / railway station whenever she used to come to the city. Its 5 years today and if I'm in the city, I still go and pick her up and drop her whenever she is travelling out of station and I know I can continue for as long as I know.
If I start something new in the beginning of a relationship... I should ask myself whether I will continue doing it forever? If the answer is yes, then I should go ahead. If not, then I should really ask myself whether this is required.
In the above examples, wherever things did not end well, it was probably my mistake for not clarifying the expectations on the very first day.
Second learning that I just realised is that whenever I'm giving a favour, I will clarify the expectations that this is only this one time. In the same way, whenever I'm receiving a favour, I should realise that it is only a favour and not a right. I have no right to be upset if it is denied to me tomorrow.
Then one day, I asked the client to send the records to our office through their delivery boys. It was not a pleasant experience, they got upset about the fact that we were not sending a pick up boy any more.
What the client did not realise was that the entire gesture of I sending a pickup person was only for initial support and not a long term service.
One of those days we ended up working late in office. My house was a walking distance from the office and a friend's house was a 45 minute drive. That day my friend borrowed my bike to go home as it was late night and I could walk home.
This happened a couple of times more. By now, my friend was just informing me that he was taking the bike, instead of asking.
Then one day my friend took the keys and drove the bike, and probably forgot to tell me. I had to leave for a last minute meeting in the evening and behold.... the bike is missing.
When I discussed this issue with my friend the next day, he was not very pleased about it.
We all make this mistake in the initial excitement of any relationship whether it is personal life, professional life, as a friend, as a boss, as a team member, as a boyfriend / girlfriend.
In the beginning of the relationship, we go that extra mile to please the other person and somehow the receiver of such gestures begins to think of it as his right. But as time passes by, we have to stop doing those little special things.
Maybe because of time constraints, other commitments, cost constraints. Whatever the reason, the fact is that we stop something and then it is not a pleasant experience. The question we need to ask is that whether it was worth starting in the first place???
I used to pick her up from the airport / railway station whenever she used to come to the city. Its 5 years today and if I'm in the city, I still go and pick her up and drop her whenever she is travelling out of station and I know I can continue for as long as I know.
If I start something new in the beginning of a relationship... I should ask myself whether I will continue doing it forever? If the answer is yes, then I should go ahead. If not, then I should really ask myself whether this is required.
In the above examples, wherever things did not end well, it was probably my mistake for not clarifying the expectations on the very first day.
Second learning that I just realised is that whenever I'm giving a favour, I will clarify the expectations that this is only this one time. In the same way, whenever I'm receiving a favour, I should realise that it is only a favour and not a right. I have no right to be upset if it is denied to me tomorrow.
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