musing...

i realize that you have to dance with the devil in every industry. customer service agents have to surrender fair and just resolutions to the whim of the customer, whose money is always right. church leaders cannot set their sights solely on effective ministry, but must constantly validate their "success" with incremental, and exponential if you are really blessed by God, increases in nickels and noses. and, unfortunately, in my industry you have to constantly handle everyone as though they are a pretty, pretty princess by couching admonitions in affirmations and constantly submitting sound, loving discernment to the emotional whims of - and government subsidized dollars provided by - the individual.

so yeah, i understand the need to dance with the devil, furiously compromising one's means in the hopes of attaining noble ends. but i f*cking hate dancing as much as i hate karaoke and find it really hard to believe that compromised means will lead one towards expected and important ends.

this is not to say that i am unwilling to "play the game." in fact, i'll probably continue playing so that i can keep on serving people by affirming the imago dei that is stamped upon them and sharing Christ's compassion with them on regular occasion. but i find it incredibly hard to participate in irrational compromises in order to pursue the reconciliation and recreation of the individuals and the communities that i love so dearly.

most days i am almost willing to die on the hill called means lest the ends i earnestly seek be adulterated.

maybe a willingness to dance comes with maturity and age. maybe i am too idealistic for my own good. maybe i should remember that my worst day in this field is better than my best day in the customer secret service.

i doubt that these thoughts shock any of you who know me well. sometimes i just need to hash this stuff out.

musing...

tonight i spent a couple of hours networking with other coffee service providers and connecting with potential clients at a local vendor fair. since client traffic was relatively light, on a number of occasions throughout the evening i talked with other service providers about type of coffee and the clients they serve. since we're all in the same industry and there are only so many ways to brew a bean, it made sense for us to collaborate with one another and even broach a couple of trade secrets.

however, as i reflect upon the evening i am surprised by how many times i had to either disarm my colleagues' defensive reactions, assertions and interruptions by reminding them that we are not competitors but collaborators who are seeking to provide the best possible service to clients who are desperate with thirst. in the coffee service sector, competition is not a virtue, but a vice. i believe that if divergent service providers proactively seek to collaborate with, rather than compete against, one another, our clients will be all the better for it.

of course, the value of collaboration and the impropriety of competition is even more important in regards to communities that are seeking to follow God in the way of Jesus. if those of us in the latter camp embrace competition and eschew collaboration in order to fulfill our own ego-centric, visionary or budgetary needs we should be truly ashamed of ourselves. i've said it before and i'll say it again: competition is not a virtue that issues forth from the Christian life. the less competition, and the more collaboration, the better.

i will now get off my soapbox. goodnight.

today's special...*

was the shit sandwich. early this morning a customer tried to run a three-legged race with me because he was pissed that i could not turn around a non-fat, half-caf latte in forty seconds or less. later in the afternoon i dashed into a friend's office to borrow a key so that i could use his space for an evening event and, although i only overstayed my meter by four minutes, was subsequently issued a $25 parking ticket. this evening, after the cohort finished dinner at the boston beerworks fenway, where we received the shittiest service known to man, we walked over to the aforementioned office for discussion...only to find that the key i picked up earlier did not work. we then retreated to the barnes and noble in kenmore square in order to regroup and listen to our keynote speaker, but were immediately told that this branch of the barnes and noble, unlike every other barnes and noble in the world, closes at 9 pm sharp.

by my mathematically challenged calculations that's four servings of shit which, whatever way you cut it, usually results in one clusterfuck of a day.

but here's the thing: although today's four course special was shit supreme i was surrounded throughout the day by the most remarkable people you can imagine. at the end of the day i realize that i have a boss that backs me up, friends who are not only willing to share their space, but also their stories and companions who are fascinated by and committed to following God in the way of Jesus.

so although i spent the day eating shit, i am one fulfilled motherfucker.

* caveat emptor: i curse a lot in this post. i try to be less profane, but it doesn't always work.