When The Bar's Set Too High

Today, at my twice-annual professional haircut appointment (Vicki cuts my hair the rest of the year), the stylist was talking about how much she loves being self-employed, as compared to the days when she worked for someone else, in a salon. That prompted me to ask, "Have you ever had a customer, since you went out on your own, who so bothered you that you refused to do their hair?" I asked this because that seemed like one of the obvious advantages of her current situation over what she'd have faced when turning away annoying louts wouldn't have been an option. She's such a nice, easy-going person that I expected her to say, "Oh no, that's never been a problem." But instead, she grimaced and said, "Just one."

Then she proceeded to describe a former customer of hers who would consistently find fault in everything that she did. The colour was never quite right; the cut wasn't what she'd wanted; and so on. Sometimes my friendly stylist would be in tears after finishing for the day, she said, remembering how embarrassed she'd been, often in front of other customers, by this never-happy complainer. Eventually, she told the loser that she was cutting back her clientele and would only be able to take on her core group from the early days. And happily, she never heard from that particular miscreant again.

This story reminded me of someone I used to work with, who could be very much the same way. He was the type of person who always sent his meal back at a restaurant because it wasn't up to his exacting standard, and then would still complain about whatever steps were taken to address the situation. Nothing in Life ever seemed to live up to his expectations, and therefore he often seemed unhappy or disappointed. This applied to the products he bought, the people he worked with, and even the details of his personal life and family.

What I wonder, with people like that, is how they ever came to the mindset that the world owed them that much? These generally aren't the truly unfortunate - those who've suffered great illness, or loss, and had to live on a fraction of the wealth, success or luck that the rest of us enjoy - but instead tend to be folks with plenty to be thankful for! What happened to them, presumably early in Life, that put them on the path toward such high expectations that never seem to be realized? And how is it that constant disappointment hasn't resulted in them taking the very obvious, and I think, natural course of simply lowering their bars until such a point as to being able to actually enjoy what they have?

As we were saying while my hair was being cut, those types of individuals are never any fun to be around, and don't seem to be having any fun themselves. So what's the point?