Terry opened up the back of the semi, and stepped back as some of the merchandise that was packed tightly in the truck spilled out. The trucks were usually packed pretty tightly. Well, might as well get started unloading it, he thought to himself. “Where’d Floater go?” He asked to no one in particular. Today, he had the unfortunate dishonor of having to team with Eric, or Floater as everyone unaffectionately called him, due to his ability to float away when it was time to unload the trucks.
It was hard enough unloading the trucks on the docks, and keeping track of everything, even when he was teamed with good workers, but being teamed with Floater, he was going to be doing 80% of the work. “He said he was going to get a forklift,” Greg, a co-worker, laughed. “Good luck.” “Man, we don’t need a forklift,” Terry thought to himself. This was Floater’s MO. He’d go looking for a forklift, and be gone for a half-hour. Then he’d come back an sit in the forklift until there was a pallet that was heavy enough to need a forklift to move it. With most the pallets though, all you needed was the hand held pallet mover, not the forklift, thus, Floater spent most of the time doing nothing. Terry had half a mind to fake being sick, and leaving, just to get that bum to get off his behind, and do some work.
A few weeks before, Pastor Ross had preached about dealing with difficult people. He used Matthew 7:12, the Golden Rule. “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Terry wondered how he could apply this right now, working with Floater. He said a short prayer, asking for guidance, then he decided that he would approach Floater in the same way that he would want to be approached. First he decided he would stop calling him Floater, and call him by his name, Eric. Then he would just explain to him, how much he needed his help, as a teammate, to get the truck unloaded in a timely manner. He explained how much he appreciated Eric’s help with the forklift, but he needed help with the other things also. He didn’t know if this would make any difference with Eric, but whatever the outcome, he was following God’s Word, and somehow Terry knew that God would help resolve this situation if he just put it in his hands.
Thought: How do we deal with difficult people in a manner that would still glorify God?