It happens, every now and again in a lifetime - you run out of gas. Sometimes for real; other times figuratively speaking. The other night, I was with a friend and we ran out of gas. I slugged my way up to 3 different homes in this rural area and spoke with 3 different people. The first lady mentioned her husband was sleeping and she couldn't help. The second lady waved her way through billowing cigarette smoke to just bark out "No, go away." The third house, ah, the third house.
This statuesque gentleman, Mitchell, answered his door. He was winding down his Sunday evening and gave me the look that only a father gives his daughter when anything is wrong with the car. I had to ask - "Do you have any gas? I ran out and am parked about 3/10ths of a mile away." He nodded and then walked out to his garage; walked to the car; poured 5 gallons of the precious commodity into the vehicle; declined a ride back to the house and mentioned he was glad to help.
This was great! Now we have gas to go to town to put more gas in the car. Very exciting!
I didn't mind walking around to the various houses to find help. I was relieved to find help.
As we drove away, my friend asked me ever-so-seriously, "Did you happen to ask him if that was premium gas in his can?"
I gave her a triple-take on that and the laugh that hasn't stopped since.
"Really?" I asked.
She added, "I only put premium in the tank."
"Adjust." ;-)
What kind of gas do you have in your tank? How full is your tank? How do you adjust when things don't go quite as planned? As managers and leaders, appreciating the cooperation and help from others can be overseen - especially when the results may be different than what we expected.
When I dropped off the handwritten thank you note to Mitchell, I thought about the employees in the practice. When was the last time I acknowledged someone lending an extra hand?
I'm still laughing about the premium gas.