Sweet Sugar by Mr. Carrington Smith (2-8-2010)
As a teenager I worked in a grocery store that was located diagonally across the street from my house. That experience has taken me to so many places that it seems that I will never be able to tell all of the stories that have helped me up to this point in my life. I certainly gained a lot of knowledge, wisdom, responsibility, and skills as well as work ethic. I also learned how people can take what seems to be a mixed message and turn it into a perspective that relieves one of unnecessary stress and pressure. It can also force one to take a look at himself as we interact with others.
At some point I came to realize the manager/owner’s philosophy/attitude about customers and customer service. In those days the mantra was that “The customer is always right”. For a young African American male, who was somewhere between gaining consciousness and full of himself, this was particularly difficult. I clearly had a hard time being nice to people who weren’t particularly nice to me. Given the times and my hormones, I was perfectly willing to hate those people and saw them only as a necessary evil if I wanted to survive. I endured many a tongue lashing from the manager as well as my own father because I would not act happy to see certain people.
One day I witnessed my employer exhausting every last bit of charm with a customer who was equal parts ungrateful, mean, and nasty. It didn’t matter what alternative the manager offered, the customer had a complaint. Nothing seemed good enough. The customer seemed to be demanding the best of everything, yet even though the manager was offering the best that we had, he remained under fire. Just when I thought that he was about to break and tell the person where to go, how fast to get there, and what to ride on, he paused. The customer demanded to know what type of sugar that we had.
At the time there were only two popular brands of sugar. You could offer the customer either Domino or Franklin sugar. Everybody knew this, but not only did the customer know this and persist in being ridiculous, but the manager knew this yet he smiled. He looked over at me and said, Carrington go back in the room and get me the “sweet sugar”. He further stated, “Don’t get the regular kind……….get me the sweet kind”. The customer all of a sudden broke into a broad smile that soon turned to laughter. Rather than challenge him with “What in the world is sweet sugar” she gave him the look that suggested, “OK, you got me……….I went too far didn’t I”.
I couldn’t help but notice how the mood lightened. When the customer came in again, she was a lot more friendly towards everyone and easier to serve. More importantly I would look at the manager, a man who I was often at odds with, yet looked to for leadership. It was only because I did not want to look like a complete idiot that I did not ask him “What in the world is sweet sugar?” Over time, I have come to realize a few things: 1) While there is no such thing as sweet sugar, that is what some people insist on. 2) What is sugar and what is its purpose? 3) Why is it that some people don’t seem to require either?
Depending on one’s point of view, sugar can be considered your disposition in a positive way. It can be considered something that is added to a bad situation that makes it easier to deal with and have a more positive outcome. It can be considered the ingredient that makes an experience pleasant. It can be your offering the best that you have. Sweet sugar, depending on one’s point of view, can be considered something extra special. It can be considered one’s willingness to go above and beyond in order to achieve a more desirable result. But is it real? Unfortunately, a question will always remain as to what a person’s intentions and/or motivation could possibly be. One could ask, “Why is this person being so nice to me………What did I do to deserve this treatment………Will it be like this always?”
As I grew older, I gained a new appreciation for the man for whom I worked. He could have dismissed the customer at any time and not suffered any great loss of income. He could have had the customer deal with someone like me and never come in contact with her. What I saw was a person who was willing to be himself at all times, regardless of the situation. He was also able to decide what was important and not let every disagreement become a disaster. By the way, these things occurred at a time when people were dying from ulcers and other stress related conditions.
So that is when I decided to learn how to discern what real sugar is. In other words, when do you get to see a person’s real self; their character. Often we settle for charm and personality as a key to attraction or rejection. In addition, if in fact we find people who are willing to show their true sweet selves, then what is the source of that sweetness? Is their sweetness from pure cane sugar, in its purest form? Is their sugar of the refined variety that seems enhanced to make it more marketable? Is their sweetness derived from a substitute; one that seems to measure a high standard of sweetness but seems to always have a bitter aftertaste?
Over time, I have found that there is only one who is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Only Jesus is that model of excellence that doesn’t need false ingredients to deliver his product. It would be nice to believe that traits run in certain families, but it is far better to find the real source. It is like honoring the flower and ignoring the tree and its root. The person who has that real goodness inside of them and who is not afraid to show it, will always give you real sweetness and the true flavor of themselves. They have that sweetness always deep inside of themselves will always give you their best. Jesus never gave us sweet sugar but, rather, gave us the opportunity of sweet life everlasting.
Life Step Ministries 