I recently stopped at a fast food restaurant to get dinner to go. While I was waiting for my order, two athletic men came in and placed their order. These men were not teenagers. They were at least in their forties. They looked like that had been coaching a game or working out at the gym.
     The young lady behind the counter fixed their ice cream cones; one got a vanilla cone and the other a chocolate dipped cone. The one who got the chocolate cone took his and headed toward the door. The other man told the girl that his cone didn’t look as good as his friends. The young lady stood there for a minute, thinking he was kidding. By the way, so did I. When he repeated his complaint, the young lady looked at the slightly older worker for assistance. That girl asked him if he wanted her to make him another one. I thought surely he would say “No, that one is fine” but instead, he said, “Yes.” So, the young lady turned around and threw the beautiful white milky ice cream cone in the trash and proceeded to make him one to his standards. He made the comment that it was much better and that she must have done that before implying that the other young lady was inexperienced. His friend told him he was awful for making her do that. He laughed it off as they were going out the door.
     I stood there, not believing what I had just seen that a grown man was that insistent on something like an ice cream cone being perfect. I thought that it was wasteful and prayed that the first young lady didn’t feel as trashed as the ice cream cone that she had made for her customer.
     Now I am not saying that there are not times when we have the right to complain. But, we need to realize that we are dealing with other people feelings. Even though he was not overly harsh with the first young lady, he was dismissive and obviously preferred the more experienced worker.
     His ice cream would have tasted the same if he had eaten the less perfect cone and it would not have mattered in the long run but I wonder how much his attitude mattered in the long run to both of the servers. I also wondered if he had to have a perfect ice cream cone did he require perfection about other things in his life. How did that affect the people around him?
     The next time we start to insist on having our own way, we need to count the cost. Is whatever we are wanting more important than the person’s feelings with whom we are dealing? We need to treat others with respect, understanding and always with love. Would Jesus have asked for another ice cream cone?

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves.” (Philippians 2:3) (NIV)