Yes, you read it right, I got pooped on. Dumped on, I was the recipient of #2.
Speaking of #2, I remember an old story that I’d like to share with you.
There once was a bird that got caught in an ice storm while flying. Its wings had started to freeze over, so it kind of crash-landed on a farm. A cow walked over and saw this frozen bird; it proceeded to poop on the bird. The heat from the poop thawed the bird’s wings, and it chirped with happiness. A cat heard the chirp, came over and pulled the bird out of the poop, wiped it off and ate it.
The moral is not everyone that poops on you is doing it with ill intent, and not everyone that pulls you out of a pile of poop is your friend.
I love that story, but no, it has nothing to do with what I am talking about…. but its fun, right?
When you are an active leader in the community, you are a prime candidate to get a steamy pile of dung thrown in your lap. Whether at work, school, trying new things or doing things others are not willing to do in order to grow.
- Some will be people that do not know any better.
- Others will do it by accident.
- Some are bent to hurt you.
- And some of that dung will be from idiots that cannot find their butt in the dark with both hands… so just ignore them.
The question is this. When someone takes a dump on you, how will you respond? Every single one of us has the opportunity to choose how we react.
Your response to the “load dropping” will define you as a leader. My job on this blog is not to tell you how to respond, but I will share this:
All of us become a toilet at some point…… it will happen. Leadership has its glories. Yes, we set our schedules, we spend our time doing the work we want to rather than not stuff we do not like, but you know what that does? All it does is make the opportunity to get dumped on more significant, and more often. So in some ways, we just went from a cat-sized turd to an elephant dookie!
If it just happened to you, you’re not alone. Of course, we do not post it on Facebook, or on social media, but it happens. You’re NOT alone! You my friend, are in the pooped on club!
And YES, I was actually pooped on today! Zaboo, my black and white ruffed lemur, was jumping around the house, I took his diaper off a little too soon. And right there, just like the play-dough fun factory, he let me have it! The only difference, well it was not star-shaped like when the fun factory had it!
Now I get a choice, I could have thrown him in the cage in disgust, or I could clean him up. Well, I chose to clean him up, clean myself off (dry heave a little because bananas and blueberries make a nasty mess). Let’s face it, he didn’t poop on me with ill intent, its just what he does, he’s a lemur.
We then wrestled on the floor for about 20 min, forgot about it, and moved on. Yes, YOU will get pooped on. Maybe not today, perhaps not tomorrow, but it will happen.
My name is Arthur Greeno, and I am the franchisee of 2 Chick-fil-A locations. I speak all over the world on Customer Service, creating Culture, and living REMARKably. I make a living by killing chickens, so all my speaking fees go to the boards I serve on in the community of Tulsa. I am not your typical leader. I have six kids, a smoking hot wife of 24 years, and I own a lemur. Life is too short to not live to your potential!