Pearls Of Wisdom from...the furnace service guy.

My furnace had not been working for the last few weeks so the recent cold front made my house cold and uncomfortable.

The service guy came by last Saturday to resolve this issue. I quickly told him about my problem and he then started to brag about his tool bag - how its all in one, easy to carry and has a spot for his drill...etc. (Aside: Yes I do have conversations with random visitors to my home. Sure his tool bag looked like all the others I had seen before - but he was happy and so was I. He was not charging by the hour.)

Finally he took a look at my furnace and turns to me with that look in his eyes and I jokingly say "if the worse case scenario is going through your mind right now please do not say it out loud." I did not want to be jinxed and have Murphy's law invoked prematurely. He responds philosophically, "do you believe in the strength of words? I do. Its actually in the Bible in the book of John. Do you know you can hurt and kill someone with your words?"

I pondered this statement for a moment and agreed with him. Words can kill more than just someone's spirit. They have the strength of a bullet. Disrespectful words can make someone feel like a loser, nasty words can destroy self-esteem and unkind words can break a person's heart.

Needless to say at the end of the visit he placed my bill on a book that he slid across my brand new dining room table with too much downward pressure. He left a minor scratch mark - on my table. I opted to forcefully but nicely point out the scratch and did not kill him with my words especially since the worse case scenario had not been the issue with my furnace.