Which is more polite? Saying yes and not fulfilling a promise or saying no and moving on.
For me, life is very simple. It's just that some of us might want to complicate things, most especially by not knowing when to say no or I can't. The moment you do not know when to draw the line, you find yourself taking up unnecessary responsibilities or increasing your workload at your own detriment.
For me, it's more honorable and polite to say no or refuse a request, than say I can and end up disappointing.
You see that saying that goes, my word is my bond? Yeah that statement.... I don't joke with it, I take it really seriously because I want to be able to say something to someone and see some level of trust in their expression and actions.
One thing worthy of noting is that, the person you might try to please by taking up tasks you can't deliver or agreeing to favors that you can't render, you see that person? Yeah, that person that you might want to impress by going overboard, will be the first to drag you when you disappoint or fail them.
They will be the first to tell you, you know you can't do this, you know that you cannot deliver why lie? Why raise my hope? And you thinking that you were doing a favor or being helpful, will find yourself in a very embarrassing situation.
Over the years, I have built quality around my words such that when I say I will do something, I do not get doubted or policed. Likewise, when I speak my mind on certain issues, people that know me know not to call my bluff because the moment the words are out of my mouth, I must live by it, keep to it and see it through to the end.
You know, there's this comfort and peace of mind that comes with not being under pressure. Personally I do not like to do more than myself and this has helped me alot especially in business. Even when I say yes, the moment I see that the task is not obtainable, I immediately decline, no matter what's at stake.
Back then when I was still running a home kitchen, I had this bulk order and the person paid fully upfront. Everything was going well till the power went off. It was two days to delivery and the power still wasn't up, by now I was out of water and I was desperately looking for ways to fill up my reserve because I can't cook without water.
Looking at the disappointment looming, I had sent a message to the person informing him of the situation and he insisted I sort myself out first then get on with the order.
A day to delivery I had gotten someone to deliver water to me but the person came quite late which caused my cooking to be delayed. Note that I have been carrying the person along with all the turns of events. The person still insisted that I go on with the order and we agreed to deliver 1pm the next day.
I cooked all night but still couldn't meet up with the delivery time. By 3pm the next day, the person was already boiling and fuming with anger. I was under a lot of pressure and I panicked, so I told him, you know what? Send your account details let me do a refund. Without hesitation he sent it and he was refunded fully.
When he got the alert for refund, he still wasn't satisfied as he went on with how disappointed he was and how he trusted me to keep to my words. He even started insinuating that I cooked up the whole blackout story and I was a scam because that was his first order.
One thing with business is that it's very hard to build a brand, more difficult to build honesty and very easy to ruin years of hard work and effort in seconds. I hate going back and forth. I knew my words would do nothing so I took a picture of all that I had done with the food and what was left to prepare. I sent them to him and then told him that if he doesn't mind, I'll finish up with the cooking then he can pick it up by morning and pay up.
When he got my message, he called me instead and then asked if I could finish cooking before 10pm because I had no means of refrigerating the food till the next day and he wouldn't want food poisoning. I told him I'll try but made no promises and we reached an agreement.
I got on cooking and by almost 9pm, I was done. I gave him directions close to my house and delivery was made, I was paid and he left me a huge tip that was half the amount he paid as gratitude.
While that ended well for me, it was not a risk I continued to venture in because right now, no is no.
Above is my response to the Inleo prompt day 14. You can check it out HERE