Aging with Grace

She realized that opinions were a dime a dozen, validation was for parking, and loyalty wasn’t a word but a lifestyle.

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If I had read this quote when I was working as a retail manager in luxury sales, I would have put it on a needlepoint pillow. A thick skin is a job requirement for retail employment. After over 30 years in management, I developed a suit of armor. If you take personally everything that is said to you, you won’t survive. There are many kind, generous people in the world. Unfortunately, there are a small percentage that are not.

There were times when an associate sat in my office in tears because of something that was said to them by a client. I would explain that it wasn’t personal. Usually, the person didn’t even know you, you just happened to be in the line of fire. You had to learn to deflect what was said. 

Some clientele wanted you to be impressed with who they were and what they achieved, They were looking for deference and expected you to be suitably dazzeled.. These were the individuals looking for validation. Through the years, some of the nicest people I met were the ones that had nothing to prove. Gloria Vanderbilt and Betty Ford are two of the women that come to mind who had true grace and presence. Von Miller and a local news personality, Kirk Montgomery, also have these qualities. They all knew who they were and didn’t require validation.