We all know it is crucial to grab the opportunities that come our way, especially during difficult times. But how many of us are ready to do it? How many of us are keeping ourselves prepared for such opportunities? How many of us are honing our skills regularly? How about sustaining these opportunities? Are we able to consistently outperform ourselves to keep these opportunities coming our way?
How did Selvi, a temporary house help, approached these questions and took advantage of her situation. Read on for more.
The Prelude To The Incident:
A few days back, our permanent house help suddenly took an extended leave due to some personal work at home. As we all were busy in those days, it was difficult for us to manage household chores and official work.
Hence, we decided to call a temporary house-help every alternate day.
Selvi used to work for us before the pandemic last year. During the first lockdown, she had lost her jobs, including ours. She decided to move back to her hometown and left all her assignments as household help.
By the end of the first lockdown, when things started returning to normal, we had to hire some house help. Selvi was still in her hometown. Hence, we hired someone else.
When Selvi returned, most of her assignments were gone. Some people choose to avoid keeping house helps, and some had already employed new ones. She was facing a unique setback in her life. She did try to make another entry to her existing clients, but they all refused. She also looked for new opportunities, but the majority of those didn’t get materialized.
Fast forward to a couple of days back, when we needed temporary house help, she grabbed that opportunity readily. It was just two hours’ worth of work, but she still accepted it.
This is how one can grab an opportunity the moment it arrives their way!
Selvi was vigilant about any opportunities coming her way and was prepared to take up that opportunity. And with that, she crossed the first step towards succeeding in her goal of getting a permanent job.
Is Grabbing An Opportunity Good Enough?
When Selvi came, the first thing she asked, are you going to have an opening for a permanent job for me. We love our permanent house help’s work and her attitude. She hardly takes extra leaves, and she has a great attitude towards her work. She is well behaved and accommodating.
Therefore, we were reluctant to open that position for Selvi. Selvi kept saying she was the best in broken Hindi (She only speaks Telegu, and we don’t understand that very well) while failing to demonstrate it in her work.
It’s essential to demonstrate one’s work through their quality of deliveries; just saying ‘I am the best’ won’t work.
Still, we were empathetic towards her work and were contemplating recommending her to our friends.
The Rude Shock!
However, the next time she came, her quality of work had deteriorated significantly, and so did her attitude. She arrogantly left without taking her wage for the day because she wasn’t happy with the salary, it seems. (The compensation was the same as the day before)
This came as a rude shock to my mother, who was at the receiving end of Selvi’s rude behaviour.
Now, my mother swears she will never call back Selvi, even if we don’t get another temporary house help.
A great move of grabbing the available opportunities ended adversely for Selvi.
The Lesson:
What do you think went wrong here?
Grabbing an opportunity is only the first step of success. If someone genuinely wants to succeed, they better change their attitude and the quality of their deliveries. While it is critical to grab the opportunities, it is also essential to honour them and perform to the best while being grateful for the opportunity.
Unless people do all three with equal sincerity, success will remain elusive.
