Help! Tech Support

A friend told me this story just the other day. It is something that I had heard in a joke at one time with only minor changes in the details. As a joke it is funny. As a real story, it is a sad commentary on how people treat one another.

Tech Support for a high-tech company gets a call from one of the muckity-mucks who has somehow dropped his cell phone in the toilet of the men's room at work. (I know what you are thinking, "how is that a tech support problem?" My question exactly!) When the Tech Support guy arrives, the muckity-muck tells the tech guy to get the phone out of the toilet. Somehow, reaching into a toilet is easier for the techy? I don't think so.

Well, the Tech Support guy was no dummy. He got a plastic bag, pulled it over his arm, reached into the toilet and grabbed the phone. No muss - no fuss. Now, a question: who should be making the bigger bucks, the guy who doesn't have the balls, or the brains, to do the job for himself, or the Tech Support guy who got the job done? Perhaps an even bigger question: what does this say about the muckity-muck's attitude toward others?

Each day we are each faced with the same choice: accept responsibility for our actions or not. Many times those choices are known only to us. Selfish choices often go unnoticed by others. If we are really well-practiced, those choices might even go unnoticed by us. Then, putting "me first" becomes our autopilot. Rationalizations abound; we hear them all the time, "Well, it's his job. It is certainly not mine!" In the end, however, we each know the truth. It only takes some reflection, and the willingness to accept what we see.

Much like the adage that "to have love, one must first let it go," real power in our lives emerges only after we let go of the power to coerce or reward that often comes with position. It is the person known for integrity, and the willingness to step into the fire, who is surrounded by others more than willing to stand in the person's place in the face of challenge.