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It’s funny how blind we can be to our own bad habits, isn’t it?

I didn’t realize that, for years, I’ve had the nasty habit of acting like a paramedic. I don’t mean I carried around a medic bag or offered to check people’s vitals, as fun as that might be… It was more a habit of allowing other people’s emergencies to become my own.

It’s one thing if a friend or family member has immediate needs – being there for each other is just part of being friends and family. It’s quite another if it’s a client’s -or worse, a strangers – “emergency”.

Strangers have called demanding an immediate property showing for example, and I’ve hopped and dashed to serve them like crazy. After all, that’s what excellent service is, right?

Thanks to a good friend, I realized that it is unnecessary to bow to other people – strangers in particular – who demand emergency-response time just because they said so. If I am expected to behave like a paramedic, I am not being respected. I don’t want to train myself to work with people who don’t respect me.

I’ll run, dig, hunt and serve like crazy. Stellar customer service is my thing – it’s what I’m about.

But I’m not a paramedic, and I’m trying to remember that that’s okay.

Where do you draw the line between excellent service and giving too much?