Last week after I picked up my mother from the airport, we decided to stop by Caribou Coffee before heading out. After we placed our order and paid, the barista asked if we needed anything else and my immediate response was “no, sir, thank you.” The barista’s reaction was moving, it wasn’t anger or frustration, but it wasn’t a smile either; just a straight face. A straight face that made me question my reply. See, I thought my response was perfectly good and polite. However, part of it was a false judgement on my part. The barista was just a bit taller than I am, short dark hair, and was wearing a hat. Just based on looks, I judged this individual and assumed they were male. It wasn’t until I started walking away that I took a look at the name tag and realized it said “Elizabeth”
I felt absolutely terrible and sick to my stomach at how quickly I judged this person just based on looks. I’m usually good about acknowledging the name, if there is a name tag, but this time I skipped the tag and focused solely on looks. I waited for the line to go through, and when everyone was gone, I went back to Elizabeth and profusely apologized to her. I told her that I had absolutely no excuses to my poor judgement of assuming she was a male and for overlooking her name tag. She smiled big and was appreciative of my apology. Although the apology was definitely necessary for both of us, it still didn’t make me feel good about myself. I need to be more intentional about my surroundings especially when it comes to acknowledging others.
How often do you jump to conclusions, allowing your mind to judge instantly before giving your eyes the opportunity to scan your surroundings and your ears to hear all the facts? It is human nature to make snap judgements, assuming we know it all, instead of taking a step back and confirming what we think we know is true. Sometimes the biggest way we can impact others is by acknowledging them for who they are and not what we think they are.
