Opening early

A while back I had to go to the bank. Traffic was light, and I arrived at 8:50am. The branch was supposed to be open at 9, but to my surprise, the teller opened the door for me then, so I didn’t have to wait in the cold for 10 minutes. This seems like a small thing, but I was super impressed by this. Most places are the exact opposite, and will not open their doors a second before the official time, no matter what. A few weeks ago I asked a volunteer at some event I was attending why won’t they let people in a bit early rather then let them stand outside in the rain, and the person’s response was “because the event starts at XX” and “that’s how it’s done, those are the rules”. Another person I asked said it could cause a mess, as the volunteer team was still at-work preparing the space.

With all due respect, I whole-heartedly disagree with any of these notions. As you all know, I run weekly events, and at my events, anyone who shows up before time can always walk in and at least sit-down, rest and enjoy a drink and snacks. Usually, at least a few people show up ahead of time, and no, this never was a problem or caused a “mess”. To support this, I always make sure the space is ready to host at least 30-45 minutes before the official start time (which I’m always able to do even though I do everything myself, with no help of any kind). The way I see it; if I can do this, anyone can, and should. This is basic human decency and respect for one’s guests.

Similarly, I don’t end my events at any specific time. While I do “set” the events to end around 2am to give people some idea of the timeframe, I never kick anyone out and even if I myself am tired (which usually happens around 3-4am), I still tell any remaining guests that they can stay as late as they want, and even spend the night to avoid driving tired. For me, this is a fundamental act of service, as I don’t want to interrupt anyone’s fun for an arbitrary schedule.

If you have ever been my guest, you’re probably already aware of all of this, but the point of this post is not to show-off, but to remind and encourage others to try to think in those terms. Instead of defining rules and timeframes and sticking to them no-matter-what, try to think outside the box. Try to think ‘what is the purpose of this rule?’. Try to consider whether the rule actually does any good. Try to consider whether this rule exists only to handle a few rare bad apples, and if so, perhaps it would be better to just handle those bad apples rather than apply a rule that might be hurtful or detrimental to the all the others. The way I see it, rules are there to tell people who aren’t smart or ethical enough to do the right thing, to do the right thing. For me, instead of this, I just surround myself with smart, kind and ethical people who know and do the right thing without ‘rules’. Does it always work? After almost 4 years of running my events, I can clearly say YES, it does. Not 100%, but so close to it, that the handful of issues that did happen were fairly simple and easy to handle without having to put the good apples in a box.

By the way, I’ve ran across similar ways of thinking in my day-job, which is technical support (something I’ve done pretty-much my entire career). In every position I’ve ever had, my colleagues used to tell me to be rigid and uncompromising with my customers. “If you answer one customer over the weekend, they’ll flood you with requests” or “if you don’t limit how many questions they can ask, they’ll walk all over you”, they said to me. Well, I’m afraid all of these are fallacies. After nearly 30 years of doing this, I’m 200% confident that these kind of issues are exceedingly rare, virtually non-existent. I’ve always been flexible with my customers, and they always appreciated and respected that, and avoided stretching my boundaries unless it was really important. I cannot think of a single time in my entire career where I regretted being flexible and open. Part of that, of course, is that they also always knew I really cared and loved them, and always do my best. This is why I’m still friends with many people who have been my customers over the years. If you’re the kind of person who sticks by the rules at any cost, take it from me…it doesn’t have to be this way. Being flexible is the best path to happiness, both for you, and your guests/customers.