Prophylaxis of emotions. Enough tolerating this, will you?
- What would you like? - Frankly speaking, your borsch was so terrible yesterday… it was a way too salty. The canteen saleswoman was taken aback when received such a harsh and unexpected reply, the queue granted us with the judgmental looks. However, the soup was really salty, even more salty than the barbecue I’d bought once in the center of Smolensk on a city day - and that, believe me, was the level. - May be somebody’s just fallen in love, - I replied, cooling off and converting the situation into a joke. As I could judge from the reaction, it became clear that it wasn’t the specific case at all for this place. It turned out that a young cook was working yesterday. - Well, for sure - we both laughed. To be on the safe side, that time the saleswoman tasted the soup herself, either with caution or hope – that day it was her shift.
All this happened on the morning when I was leaving Yalta. I understood that I wouldn’t probably come back to this canteen again. So, why to get involved then? I would say, it was definitely worth it! But not because of the concerns regarding the quality of Crimean catering. When I approached the till, negative feelings experienced the previous day were dwelling on me. But as soon as expressed my concerns I felt relief.
One of the skills that I’ve finally gained during that retreat contained the following truth: you should get up and leave if the movie is a total crap, you shouldn’t finish your meal if the food is disgusting or when you are already full, you should be able to stop an unpleasant conversation on the spot and indicate / correct immediately what bothers you or appears unpleasant. In general, just keep calm, listen carefully and hear yourself.
Those who have already come to it and behave like I’ve described above – please accept my deep respect. At that moment I felt how my inner energy was encouraged by this situation, maybe because I had so little of it. You may look as an inadequate drama queen to the people around, well, let it be. Now I do believe that it’s the only right way. And what about you: do you keep silent or blow up?
Translated by Irina Zaitseva