Would ya get the door please!

A buddy of mine I work with told me some events that had happened between he and another co-worker here in the office that turned out to be a great little story. Yes, I’m going to share it with you…

The doors to our company which take up the entire 2nd floor of a 4 story building are always locked. All of them. So, when you come in after lunch, or to go out to the public restroom, you have to have your key to unlock the door to come in. These locks are not the electronic locks either. We’re talking conventional door knob key. If you forget your key, you knock and peek thru the side glass from the foyer in hopes someone is walking by on the other side that will hear you and let you in.

This buddy of mine..Dalton, was on a deadline on his project he was working on. So, needless to say, anything he is doing, needs to be done quickly to save time as to not miss his deadline. As he is in the office, walking down the main hallway with a bunch of papers in his hands ready for the delivery to another co-worker, he passes the employee entrance door and notices thru the sidelight window another co-worker (will call her Sharon) struggling to find the right key on her key ring to open the door while she is struggling to hold on to books and papers.

Dalton sees this going on as he is about to pass the door, and takes a step towards the door, because just for one brief second he was going to be a gentleman and go out of his way (all of an arms length away) to open the door for her. But Dalton refocuses on his task at hand and his duty to get the work passed off in a timely matter and passes on doing his God given duty to open a door for a lady. A struggling lady that is about to drop everything she is holding to find the damn key and unlock the door.

Their eyes meet just long enough for Dalton to look away and step up the pace down the hallway to make up the .02 seconds he just lost with the hesitation he made.

The slight hesitation Dalton made was very obvious to Sharon as Dalton would come to find out in the days to come….

The first incident happened a couple of days later. A company wide email was sent out announcing the company summer picnic at the local amusement park. The company will provide all you can eat lunch for everyone regardless of age, and 1 park pass for each member of the family. Any additional friends or relatives would have to pay a fee. So the company needs a count of how many family and how many friends.

Dalton replies with needing 4 tickets for his family. One for him, his wife and his 2 children.

After that email, a clarifying email was sent out to the company that simply said children under 3 are free. (emails are in red, my comments in parentheses)

Dalton replies with:

I will need 3 tickets.
Dalton (self)
'Spouse' (wife)
‘Boy A’ (son age 4)

Thanks,
Dalton


(because 'Boy B' -2 yrs old, is free now...right?)


Then another company email was sent out clarifying that if children under 3 wanted to ride rides, they would need to be counted as well. This is where the emails start between Dalton and Sharon….


Sharon:
To clarify tickets for 3 & under children:

Children 3 & under are free to get in AS LONG AS THEY DON”T RIDE ANY RIDES. Anyone that wants to ride any rides needs a stamp and tag on their wrist. So I will give you a ticket for your 3 & under if you want them to be able to ride. BUT, I will not be giving you a meal ticket for 3 & under, because they do eat for free.


Dalton:
Please add one ticket to my packet.
‘Boy B’ – age 2

Thanks,
Dalton



Sharon:
Is he your son?



(his original email stated 4 family members. Then he changed it to 3 members because the 4th was free, now that the 4th is NOT free, he needs to add one to his packet. What’s wrong with this lady?)


Dalton:
Yes, I have two sons.
‘Boy A’ – 4 yrs old
‘Boy B’ – 2 yrs old



Sharon:
If you want the two year old to ride more than the merry go round, I will give you two tickets.



(No shit!? What the hell do you think he’s trying to do here?)



Dalton:
Yes, I would like two child tickets.


Sharon:
So how many tickets do you need?



(are you kidding me!? She is really trying to get under his skin here…)



Dalton:
Me (one adult)
‘Spouse’ (one adult)
4 yr old son (one child)
2 yr old son (one child)

This is a total of 2 adults and 2 children. All of which are my immediate family.


Sharon:
Ok – thank you.



(did that actually make sense that time?)


The next day, Dalton and another co-worker were talking in the break room and Sharon came in. she looked directly at Dalton as she came in. Dalton said hi and she then looked to the co-worker and said Hi to the co-worker. Totally blowing off Dalton. (bitch!)


Stuff like that went on for over a week. Walking past each other in the hall and she would not even look at him. Even if he said hi. He has to work directly with her on some aspect of the projects, but she would not talk to him at all. Then finally, Dalton did something that changed Sharon’s whole outlook on him.

Another project deadline was nearing, and Dalton was finishing up his work in great fashion with plenty of time to spare. Sharon mentioned to Dalton that she didn’t have time to send information to the other office for their graphic designer to do a cover sheet for the project and asked Dalton if he could do something simple for her.

Dalton flew into action and did what he does best, with little or no effort at all. Took him no time at all. With time to spare, he showed her what he had done and she was shocked. Could not believe that he had that kind of talent. She said they didn’t get that kind of stuff from the graphic designer. No longer would they have to send stuff to her.

Dalton had noticed some pictures of her grandkids and child and started asking about them. She was all to happy to talk about them. Mentioned her son was in the military and has 2 purple hearts. Dalton saw this as an opportunity to have something in common with her, so he mentions his cousin that is in the military (that he never talks to) serving in Iraq, and how he was in the same vehicle as a news reporter while on TV.

Since then, all has been good between the two. She even went to the person that original referred Dalton to come to work there and said. “Thank you so much for getting Dalton to come to work here. It is so great to have him here!” haha – ‘so great to have him here’ she says. That’s a recovery if I ever heard one.

Thoughts of Dalton not opening the door will never cross her mind again. I’m sure in her mind, that event never happened.

Way to go Dalton! You’re my hero! You managed to save yourself a lifetime of regret, humiliation and daggers being thrown at you from Sharons eyes every day.

You da man!