Why not to complain when you are annoyed

Why not to complain when you are annoyed
13 Sep 2015

I wanted to share my story today. It was a lesson for me, to shape up my personality. A lesson from a cleaner of a private bus service.

I was like anyone, who is just returning from a successful event in which he was part of, flying on the skies. Just about 8:30 pm on 12th Sep, a passenger who boarded the bus in which I was traveling asked the driver to stop the bus, complaining that the a/c was not effective. I knew that the a/c on a bus worked almost similar to a car and would be cooling at peak only when the bus runs beyond a particular speed. Before I could explain this to the passenger, he was annoyed and refused to travel anymore and got down.

I then had a good sleep. By 4 am, there were a couple of people near my berth talking to each other. I knew something was wrong. The a/c on the bus had issues and there were sparks and smoke filling the cabin. They switched off the a/c and continued the drive as not many were awake. I couldn’t sleep because of the smell of the smoke so I moved to the driver’s cabin and asked if I can stay there for a few minutes. They did not hesitate so I stayed there, for more than few minutes.

One of the driver asked me to get back to my berth and I felt that it was not polite on his side to ask me to move. Although I was annoyed, I did not complain and I kept moving to my berth. For a few minutes I couldn’t sleep but then I thought I should not be annoyed and got back to sleep.

After an hour, at around 6 am the cleaner of the bus came to my berth looking for me. He said that he had a wallet which he thought was mine. It looked like the wallet slipped off my pocket and went beneath a seat. Before I went to pick it up, one of the drivers of the bus came and gave me the wallet. I was surprised, and learned two lessons for the day.

Lesson 1: Not complaining saves you money

I was annoyed when the a/c went off and also when I was not allowed much time on the driver’s cabin. By not complaining about being annoyed, I saved my wallet! If I had lost it, I would not only have lost the money, but also my ID cards, driving license, etc.

Lesson 2: Not complaining helps build one's personality

I thought for some time.. what if I had reacted when I was annoyed. I would have lost an opportunity to help someone be honest. While I appreciate the integrity of the cleaner of the bus to return my wallet, I still believe that if I had reacted an hour ago when I was annoyed, that would have taken his integrity to a test.

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Abilash Praveen

I have over a decade of experience in technology and business. It is my passion for the development of the rural and the underprivileged in the society that has driven me towards contributing the wealth of my professional and personal experiences for the welfare of the society.