I was two days into my entry level, envelope handling position. The 12 hr shift was spent shuffling envelopes into trays and listening to whatever my operator (basically a mid-level boss) said.
On this particular day my operator was a bearded grumpy man I’ll call Mr. Grimm.
I’m an oldest child so I’m terrified of making mistakes, I ask tons and tons of questions till I fully understand something. Mr Grimm was the kind of guy who was like “yes new guy, ask me questions,” as I scream and yell and swear at you the answers.
It was a long, demanding, exhausting day. At one point I upset Mr. Grimm so much he started throwing envelopes at me while heaping abuse; just my luck, a multi-tasker.
Two hours into this I wondered if Mr. Grimm was my enemy, I concluded he was; which sucked because scripture asks me to love my enemies. So I gave Mr Grimm 110% all day long; he told me run and get something and I ran (not walked) to get it. He told me to do something his particular way and I did it his way. I smiled, didn’t talk crap behind his back, and counted down the hours.
And then a funny thing happened
It seemed Mr Grimm was impressed with my attitude. He started telling people how I’d gone above and beyond, that the only thing I did wrong was not complain and quit. We started giving each other friendly nods when passing on the factory floor. He was still a jerk, but he was becoming less of a jerk.
Sometimes I think scripture asks us to love our enemies because it makes it all the more easier when, on occasion, our enemies become our friends…
Image Credit: Zakeno
