As Good as his word
Oct. 6th, 2004 04:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sobrique"As good as his word". Searching the net doesn't give me a hard reference. The phrase is used often, and loosely.
So here's my definition. It's treating everything you say as a promise. Agreeing to do something, means doing it. It's setting expectations of what you can, and will do.
I would like to be this way. It would be something I would be proud to have as my epitaph.
When one gives a promise, even a casual one, it should be kept. This is not to say that sometimes it's not possible, but letting someone down, I see as a major thing, and one that should only be done at grave need.
I suppose it depends on your viewpoint. Maybe agreeing to something doesn't really mean all that much at all in the world today. After all, if it's not on a written contract, it doesn't count.
I guess that's the way of the world. Hope, but don't expect.
Never the less. The way I wish to live my life is this.
If I say I will do a thing, then I will make every effort to do so.
I will not consider it a trivial matter to let you down.
Ironically, it's also one of the core principles of that horror of horrors 'customer service'. Customers rarely mind being told that something will take a realistic amount of time. They do mind being told that it'll take a certain amount of time, and the person in question failing to deliver.
To quote Scotty in Star Trek: "It'll take you 8 weeks, but I'll do it for ye in 2."
Kirk: "Mr. Scott, do you always multiply your estimates by a factor of 4?"
Scotty: "Aye Capt'n. How else could I keep my reputation as a miracle worker?"
So here's my definition. It's treating everything you say as a promise. Agreeing to do something, means doing it. It's setting expectations of what you can, and will do.
I would like to be this way. It would be something I would be proud to have as my epitaph.
When one gives a promise, even a casual one, it should be kept. This is not to say that sometimes it's not possible, but letting someone down, I see as a major thing, and one that should only be done at grave need.
I suppose it depends on your viewpoint. Maybe agreeing to something doesn't really mean all that much at all in the world today. After all, if it's not on a written contract, it doesn't count.
I guess that's the way of the world. Hope, but don't expect.
Never the less. The way I wish to live my life is this.
If I say I will do a thing, then I will make every effort to do so.
I will not consider it a trivial matter to let you down.
Ironically, it's also one of the core principles of that horror of horrors 'customer service'. Customers rarely mind being told that something will take a realistic amount of time. They do mind being told that it'll take a certain amount of time, and the person in question failing to deliver.
To quote Scotty in Star Trek: "It'll take you 8 weeks, but I'll do it for ye in 2."
Kirk: "Mr. Scott, do you always multiply your estimates by a factor of 4?"
Scotty: "Aye Capt'n. How else could I keep my reputation as a miracle worker?"
