In the past, I always had a really short temper when it came to jobsworth people. You know the type, people in petty positions of authority at places like the phone company or the airline check-in desk.
One time I was coming back from Melbourne on a certain airline after a boozy weekend and the flight got cancelled at the last minute with a very weak explanation. The airline has this thing where the cost of a return ticket is, say, $150, but the return portion is only $20.
Then the replacement Virgin flight costs $300 on the day and you realise you’ve been conned and should have bought the Virgin flight in the first place, for $200. I see red and unleash on the poor people who are on the front lines implementing these kinds of corporate policies.
Then a few months after learning to meditate I found myself in a similar situation. I was planning on picking up a hire car after work to go away for the weekend. I phoned at lunch to check on something and they said I had to bring a physical credit card to pick it up and that I specifically couldn't use Apple Pay. I knew this would mean I'd have to go all the way home at lunch and come back taking 90 mins out of my day.
I felt the surge of anger and prepared to unleash a volley of abuse.
But then I noticed the anger disappeared. Instead of my usual response, I found myself instead trying to see what the positive outcome of this would be. It was a sunny day and I'd just bought a new motorbike. If you'd asked me that morning what I’d most like to do that day I would have said ride my new bike. Here I was with a chance to do just that and not be at work.
Instead of my former response, I found myself politely ending the call. Instead of seething all the way back to pick up my credit card, I found I was able to enjoy the ride. Instead of awkwardly picking up the car after abusing them on the phone, I found myself sharing a joke with them about the card policy.
These are the kinds of events I tell my students to watch out for to track their progress. We don’t live under laboratory testing conditions when we learn to meditate so it can sometimes be hard to see what progress you’re making. It’s times like this when you overturn a long-held behaviour that you can really see your progress in action.