"I Want My Money Back! This Coffee is Too Sweet!"

A while back, I was talking to a friend of mine who’d been working a food truck at a golf tournament. They were the only truck around where anyone could buy a cup of coffee, albeit instant, which was fine for most people. At least they were able to get their cup of Jo.

At one point during the course of the day, a woman came up and ordered a cup of coffee; she immediately started complaining about the fact that it was instant. That was not a secret. The coffee wasn’t being sold as Starbuck’s Winter Blend. Already sour and unhappy, she added creamer to her coffee. Lots of creamer. Which, of course, made it too sweet.

The woman, then, made her way back to the truck and said, “I want my money back, this coffee is too sweet!”

What?! From the start, the woman knew it was instant. She made a choice to buy the coffee, and then made another choice to pour a cup of creamer into her coffee. How was it possible that she wanted her money back? How was it possible that she thought she deserved to be reimbursed? The answer: no accountability.

Unfortunately, more and more people don’t hold themselves accountable. They feel a sense of entitlement and want to point the finger at everyone else. That’s the problem. A lot of people think they can make their way through life, do whatever they want, and that there will be no consequences. They don’t hold themselves accountable for their actions.

As long as there is no accountability for the choices we make, no changes can take place within us. We need to understand that the choices we make are ours and ours alone. No one else is responsible. No one owes us anything.

Before making a demand, or an accusation, let’s take a look inside. What was our role in the whole thing? Did we misunderstand? Was there something we missed? If we look, really look, we’ll realize that way from the start we made a choice, and because of that choice, we ended up with the current situation.

Let’s hold ourselves accountable rather than making demands or accusations for the bad choices we make. Once we understand that our choices produce our results, we can start making different and better choices. And that means different and better consequences!