Imagine this scenario. You are down in Disneyland for a family vacation. Its a beautiful morning and the kids are excited about what they are going to do and see on that day. Suddenly, you realize that you forgot to bring your camera. Your spouse is not happy but has a simple solution – you could just buy a single-use camera. Its expensive but it is worth its price. You are happy and the problem is solved. What happens during the day is not very important. However, I want to focus on what happened to that “single-use” camera that you purchased. Here are a few things:
2. You take it to a studio where you order a set of prints and possibly a CD with digital images.
3. Once the studio person takes out the film, the camera is trashed or recycled.
This seems very logical. The “single-use” camera su ddenly assumed a lot of importance for that particular day. It became useless as soon as it served its purpose. In other words, you had an “opportunistic” attitude with the single-use camera and that was the right thing to do.
Unfortunately, there are people out there who extend this “single-use” policy to people that they should be developing long-term relationships. It might have happened to you in the recent past. An old acquaintance calls on you for help. You take some time out of your busy schedule and help him or her out. That’s the end of it. You will never hear back from that person again. Sorry. I said it wrong – you will never hear back from that person again – until the person needs you again.
What would be your disposition towards such a person when you get a call the next time around? while you might be sweet and accomodating and may be you will help the person out – chances are that won’t be a priority for you. If you have to help out two people and one of them is a master of “single-use” policy, he has to wait in the queue for his turn.
When you are a victim of the “One time use” policy of someone, it hurts! The other way is true too. If you have used a “One time use” policy on one of your friends, it hurts them. If you drop the “One time use” policy for the rest of your life, I won’t guarantee that you will make more friends but you may have a better chance of retaining existing friends.
Good luck!