just say sorry - a story about donuts

photo: unsplash

photo: unsplash

Anticipation in April: the countdown to a SyFy Channel movie: The Dead 7. Featuring...wait for it...members of The Backstreet Boys, nSync, O-Town and 98 Degrees. And no, I'm not being a sarcastic jerk, I was actually excited. I love B-movies, the cornier the better. And what's cornier than a slew of 90s boy banders battling zombies? Nothing, that's what.

I had the perfect evening planned: pizza, cocktails and our favorite donuts for dessert. No. Wait. not our favorite donuts. The leftover scraps from the donut shop...that's what we had. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Our local donut place is crazy popular. So popular, they regularly sell out before noon. So they take orders the night before via text and Facebook. It's a win-win: they know how many pastries to make, and their customers get exactly what they want. The night before, I texted my order like usual, then showed up the next morning. No donuts. There were literally only fifteen donuts left in the whole store. I asked about my order and all I got was a shrug and a stare. I showed them my text. "Yeah, that's your message." "Yeah, we got it" and "No. We don't have your donuts".

photo: unsplash

photo: unsplash

At this point it's not about the donuts, right? I mean we can all agree to that point. What it's about is an honest mistake, handled badly.

I don't take it personally when people mess up. I do take it personally when they don't care how their slip-up effects others.

All I needed was an, "I'm sorry, here's what we have left". That's it. Instead I got a silent stare and a half-hearted shrug. I chose a few donuts from the nearly empty display, paid and left. It made me think: we all mess up. Our intentions are good, our hearts are in the right place, but as Mother Teresa once said, "sh$t happens." Ok, she didn't say that, but she probably thought along those lines. Mistakes happen. It's inevitable. But we show the world who we are when we are confronted by our mistakes. Do we defer? Do we hide? Do we face them, head on?

People don't remember your mistakes as well as they remember how you tried to fix it (or didn't).