I had a shoot scheduled this morning and the location was an office building in downtown Birmingham. Now, if you aren’t familiar with downtown, let me just tell you that trying to park is not fun. There is VERY little long-term parking, which is difficult for me when I’m out on a shoot because I have an SUV full of equipment to load and unload. Normally when I’m going to an unfamiliar location I park as close to the building as I possibly can, then go inside to meet my contact. Once I make contact, I inquire as to the best location for loading and unloading. Then I move my car.
Today’s routine was no different. I arrived at the building and parked in a lot nearby. The lot said “Private Parking,” but I thought, “No big deal. This lot is probably here for the employees of this particular business.” When I returned to the car, I found a sticker on the driver’s side window, warning me that my car would be towed if I parked in that spot again. Normally a warning wouldn’t frustrate me (at least it’s not a ticket), but whoever inspected the lot had placed a sticker on the glass — not a ticket under the windhshield wiper. That meant I had to slowly pull the sticker off the window, but it left shards of paper and that annoying adhesive on the glass.
I wadded up the sticker and stuck it to a nearby sign while I tried to scrape the rest of the goo off my window. I then climbed in the car and started pulling out of the parking lot. That’s when a woman approached my car seemingly out of nowhere. The woman happened to be the owner of the parking lot and she was particularly upset that I had parked my car without a permit. I explained who I was and why I was there, but clearly she wasn’t satisfied with my response.She told me that people purchase individual parking spaces in that lot, and I forced a paying customer to park elsewhere because I took his/her space. I tried to reassure her that I meant no ill-will, and I certainly didn’t want to inconvenience a paying customer. I told her I thought the lot belonged to nearby businesses and if a visitor had a scheduled appointment then it would be okay to park there (Lesson #1 - Never Assume Anything).
This was certainly an unexpected confrontation with an individual who was frustrated. And there’s an important lesson here for entrepreneurs and freelancers. I could have easily responded in kind to her forceful tone in an effort to “put her in her place.” I could have ignored her, or driven off without even rolling down my window. I could have just let her go when she tried to walk away and return to her office. However, there’s one thing that helped me keep my cool, and it’s one thing all entrepreneurs and freelancers should keep in mind — You Represent Your Business Wherever You Go.
Imagine for a moment that I had made the choice to be extremely rude to this woman. What do you think her reaction would be if we met up again at a business meeting or networking event? Do you think she would want to hire my company for a video production? Absolutely not, because she would always remember the way I treated her in that parking lot. I am a representative of Parc Entertainment, and as such I should always treat people the way I would want to be treated. Remember, it doesn’t cost anything to be nice. I knew I couldn’t let her leave the confrontation upset, so I made sure that she didn’t go back into her office. I stopped her and I tried to defuse the situation. Ultimately things were resolved. I accepted blame. I took responsibility. I apologized. And hopefully she left the confrontation with a better opinion of me than when it started.
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