A few years ago, I had wrapped up a luxury bathroom renovation for long standing clients who decided to get their first look at the new bathroom (they'd been enjoying their second home and away from the construction for 6 weeks) on Thanksgiving. I'd planned to be out of town with friends and stuck to my plan. They flew back in Thanksgiving day.
The following day I spoke with my client and was surprised when she focused on the old linens and towels that we'd pulled out of the bath. We'd bagged everything up and put it in the garage destined for Goodwill as she and I had discussed. There were at least ten bags there, but when she got home, she found only six, it seems the cleaning lady or a contractor had tossed a couple.
Rather than enjoy the new luxurious bath which she was thrilled about, she asked instead about items she no longer needed that had disappeared. I was puzzled and concerned.
I knew I could take care of any challenges in person, I also knew that I'd have to approach this without feeling defensive or hostile. As I was mulling over how to do this, two words popped into my head "with grace and ease." I claimed that as my mantra and as I left my no longer relaxing vacation getaway, I simply kept repeating that mantra to myself.
Once in person, it took patience (grace) and understanding (ease) to get this client back on track and focused on what was wonderful. If I had approached it the way I'd felt, defensive, frustrated, and anxious the situation only would have worsened instead of resolved.
She ultimately accepted the loss of the missing bags realizing they were destined for Goodwill anyway, and relaxed into enjoying her new luxury bath.
