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When we purchase a take away coffee through the drive-through we have noticed that there are 5 buttons on the lid to press and so we delight in being the first one to press them before anyone else gets to do it. Feels rather nice and it is a fun game we have engaged in for quite some time now without realising it has become a habit.
We do not take it seriously and there is much laughter involved. One person may forget to do it while another quickly sneaks in to grab the opportunity. Sometimes we may get to press just one or two buttons before the holder of the coffee pulls it away to complete the remaining buttons. Sounds simple and silly but it is a lot of fun to us.
Often the simple things in life bring the most bonding of times with pleasure in our families.
Pressing buttons is a term we may all be quite familiar with and it is documented as an idiom in the online freedictionary.com for those who want to understand more of its meaning as “To do things that create a very strong emotional reaction in someone, especially anger, irritation, or exasperation”. This can be very frustrating, annoying, and have lasting effects on one’s health if not dealt with properly. Does anyone want to have anger, high blood pressure, and feelings of being so upset to the point of being unable to cope with this behaviour? Anyone in their right mind would of course reply with a resounding “No!” We may recall some of those challenging times during our childhood when siblings taunted us by pressing our buttons just to get on our nerves. I remember that the three of us were threatened a few times with the feather duster for spanking — the long, unforgiving, hard handle could produce some welts that made it almost impossible to sit down. Better not to press buttons — best to just get along nicely.
Recently there was a situation which occurred that affected me with my buttons being firmly pressed. After a very early start at 0400 hours and a long day at work I had expectations of quickly grabbing a bite to eat from our usual place we go to whilst far from home in a rural town. We like to go there as they have healthy salad options and many sandwiches to choose from plus they make them up freshly in front of you. On that Wednesday evening we were the only customers when we entered the shop so we were able to order straight away what we wanted and while our order was being made up another two customers came in. There were 3 staff on deck to help but suddenly things became a bit chaotic with staff leaning over our partially made sandwiches with their clothing knocking bits of food out of my sandwich while they made sandwiches for other customers. My hot food was left open on the bench steaming away to become cold as it was not wrapped up after being made as it should have been. All accidental of course but completely avoidable. By the time the staff finished all the subs we were the last to leave! The other customers did not so much as “even bat an eyelid” when we were made to wait while they were served before us as the staff rang through their orders first. We stood there incredulously. How can the last be served first with four sandwiches while we had only two? They were most likely locals while we were strangers but even so — bad service.
This was so wrong in my eyes that it pressed all of my buttons on every level deeply and repetitively. It was like the devil was leaning so heavily on my buttons he would not get off! Everything that should not have happened had just happened in front of our eyes. As the old add on TV ran through my head my thoughts were “Not happy Jan!” The other customers should have at least said to the staff…”would you please finish serving these people first as they were here before us”...isn’t that normal and what is meant to happen? I know that is what I do when serving out of order occurs because it is the polite and decent thing to do. Reminder to self that we are still living in an imperfect world with imperfect rules and I must wait for another time when all things will be done decently and in order. Once again I ask myself why do I always expect the best from people? How about you? Would this situation press your buttons? It can get very wearisome and tiresome at times waiting for the Kingdom. We have many lessons to learn and so we continue on planning and hoping to resist and overcome our human nature in order to become more Christ-like. Some days are harder than others and especially when we are tired — two hours later I was fast asleep!
On the short drive back to our cabin I realised that I had some deeply unresolved issues as I am a stickler for being on time, for people being served in the right order, for high levels of correct hygiene practices (especially in these COVID-19 times) and for staff to follow processes and policies put there in the first place to help people — their customers. My parents trained me well in these ways and if you cannot tell already, I had a Germanic cultural style of upbringing even though physically located in Australia. After sitting down to process all that had just transpired, I pulled out the receipt to read the printed words on the slip of paper indicating I had purchased a bacon sandwich — well that was “the last straw that broke the camel’s back” so to speak. Immediately I was thrust into action by phoning the store to advise them that I was charged incorrectly and I had not eaten pork, ham or any part of a pig for over 13 years. Of course the young girl probably had no idea of what I was talking about and said she would let the manager know to give us a refund. Two days later the call was made and everything was sorted out. The manager was repeatedly apologetic as she “prides herself” in training her staff well. Two of the staff on that evening were new while one was more senior, and according to the manager, had panicked, made all the mistakes she had told them over and over again not to make, and that is why we had the drama unfold like we did.
The end result is that we were listened to, given empathy, explained why these errors had occurred, and then offered gift vouchers. All very lovely but what was needed and wanted is for people to think about what they are doing and how their actions affect others. Before I could say anything to the store manager this is exactly what she said she would do...provide further training so that this young girl can experience being the customer to see what it is like being on the other side of the counter. This was comforting to my ears and I thought it would be a sound exercise to teach her staff what is needed from the customer’s perspective. The manager and I spoke for several minutes and we agreed on many things based on our experiences and we were obviously around the same age in years. Thankfully common sense prevailed but imagine if it was otherwise! There are so many managers out there who are very young, with little or no life experience, and have no empathy or caring qualities to handle this type of situation so deftly.
What presses your buttons may be entirely different to mine and vice versa. For me I highly value my time and when it is wasted unnecessarily especially through highly preventable mistakes it really bothers me. The unexpected waste of time annoys me and that is why I like to be on time or a little early to show respect to others, drive obeying the speed limits, and ensure I have plenty of time to attend to all things that need attention. Time is something we cannot get back and we are all given the same 24 hours each day — time is incredibly valuable to me and so I must plan for and expect delays in the future as we live in this crazy world which is becoming more and more unsettled during 2020 as people continue to speed dangerously on the roads causing preventable deaths, run late, do not plan adequately with their time, and do not practice wisdom. I marvel that others seem so random with their time but we do know this world is under the sway of the evil one (1 John 5:19).
Learning from stressful incidents is profitable and so if we examine why we feel so cranky when our buttons are pushed by looking for the underlying cause it can help with tackling and then overturning these issues. I do feel better already knowing that if I plan for these anomalies then that is step one in the right direction for the future. I need to lower my expectations and have a plan in place before I enter a sandwich shop, or any shop for that matter otherwise this button will keep getting pushed until I have successfully mastered the challenge of being patient, kind, forgiving and also understanding, especially when tired. We definitely need to know ourselves because our Adversary, Satan the devil certainly does and he will keep throwing hurdles in our way just to wear us down and annoy us (1 Peter 5:8).
At the end of the day it was beneficial to put things into perspective by praying, by being teachable and going to God’s Word which revealed comforting scriptures from Matthew 19:30 & 20:16, Mark 10:31, and Luke 13:30 where Jesus Christ says “And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last”. This sums it all up completely and puts it into perspective and focus with great clarity. We need to be humble — better to let others see our good example rather than have a temper tantrum (Proverbs 16:32) — and if we focus now on being meek (Matthew 5:5) like our older brother, then we will be ready to enter God’s Kingdom. To be first with God is better than being first with anyone or anything else here in this life. This was truly a timely reminder for me and hoping it gives the reader food for thought about what presses your buttons and how do you cope with developing righteous character. The right answer should be to lean on The Helper, the power of God living within us to lead us through testing times, especially all those things that jump on our buttons to push us to the point of sin.