Know your value!

It was a partly cloudy morning and the sun peeked out from behind the cumulus clouds that floated beneath the blue sky. The scrawny leafless branches of a tree passed beyond the window of my car as I came to a stop at the brick house with the white fence. A young lady came through the gate, and we made eye contact. She looked from me to the man in the window as he walked towards my car.  He wore a smile on his face like a sticker affixed.

     “My day wouldn’t be complete without seeing you this morning,” he said.

    “Good morning. How are you?” I asked.

    “My day wouldn’t be complete without seeing your beautiful smile,” he smiled.

    “It is Monday. How was your weekend? How are you feeling?” I inquired. On Friday, when I saw him, he waved to me from his porch and said he was getting over a cold.

     “I am feeling better,” he answered.

    “That is good because I was wondering if you were okay.”

    “What are we going to do? We make the best of the situation and take medication,” he explained.

I realized that I had my braided hair up in a bun, and the few unruly gray hairs that took up permanent residence around my hairline were exposed. So, I took the scrunchie out and let it fall to my shoulders like a hair commercial.

   “Oh, look at you! Ooh goodness, gracious! You’re giving me all these freaky deeky ideas in my head.” He laughed as he watched me intently.

    “No freakiness intended. I forgot to put my hair down. Please keep those ideas inside your head,” I rebuked him.

    “That is where they will have to stay. But, that is not going to stop me from having my ideas.”

    “No, I cannot stop you from having your thoughts.”

    “You do not have any control over my mindset.” His hand raised in disagreement.

    “You cannot give that power of control to anyone, whatsoever,” I interjected.

     “There is this song by, Everly Brothers – All I have to do is a dream, dream dream dream.” He burst out laughing as his hand went back and forth as if he was conducting a symphony.

      “That cannot hurt anyone. We all dream,” I chuckled.

      “At my age, what am I going to do? I am just happy to wake up every morning and as I get older I start seeing things in reality and what I didn’t do thirty years ago, it is history. We cannot turn back the hands of time.”

      “But you can start today,” I responded.

“You are right. I like that. We are never too old to start over and learn. I had a little setback with my leg, but with God’s willingness, the future is mine to keep adding value to my life.”

Thoughts from the man in the window     

An employer watches you at work; that is their job. At times, when they see your potential and the value you promote to benefit their company, they sometimes respond. They might give you a salary increase, a promotion, or some sort of compensation to show their appreciation. But do not be misled because sometimes they see your value and know you are worth more.   

He knows how the Jews operate; they are smart and a very creative group of people. He doesn’t fault them; they are sharp business people. They hold on to a nickel till the buffalo takes a crap, but he got to give them credit. It is just business. And he would try to keep the overhead expenses low if he was in charge of a company. It would be better to keep the money in his pocket than in yours. If a potential employee was willing to take the salary that he offered, then a contract would get created for the exchange of his money for their service.

His daughter worked with this company in the city for many years. She told him that they wanted to give her an increase in her salary. She was getting a good salary, but this was due to her being a hard worker with a college degree.

The employer asked her to give an amount for her salary increase. He told her not to low-ball herself (Do not undervalue your worth). The employer was pretending to be interested in her proposal. They had their figure already budgeted; they only wanted to see what value she placed on herself. He wanted her to ask for the highest, and if that was too high for them, at least they knew where she valued herself. He told her that if she was ever placed in a negotiating position, that she should go for the best outcome that would benefit her deal. He told her not to let anybody low-ball her and that she needed to know her worth.

Do not let anybody low-ball you. You need to know you have value.

     “Is that the lesson for today?” I asked.

     “I may not have much to offer but I have a measure of wisdom.”

“Is that the lesson for today?” I asked.

“I used to work with this guy, and we talked all the time. The day I retired, I said to him, it is a shame that it took me a lifetime to finally acquire this much wisdom and knowledge, and then I am old and no longer needed it. And he said, Mr. T., you know what you do when you acquire a little wisdom and knowledge, you pass it on,” he advised.

Please pass this one on! Know your value!

         Okay, I said it!