Expectations: An Unfocused Post

The anticipation of the thing is often greater than the thing itself.

I wanted an HP Jornada hand held for years, and I finally bought a remanufactured one from Tiger Direct for $99. Every day of the 12 that it took to get the handheld computer was an additional piquing of my anticipation until I was frothing for it on the day it arrived. The poor UPS man must have thought I was nuts.

Now I'm typing on my new Jornada 680e, and it's ok. Not thrilling. Not exciting. It's just ok.

That's great compared to some situations. I've bought 2 steering shafts now for my jeep (a 1977 CJ5), and I awaited each one with a growing eagerness. Each time I went straight home to put it on after work, and each time I was sorely disappointed. Neither shaft fit.

I guess everything is that way. Sin participated is usually more mundane than sin anticipated. Even the positives are usually letdowns. The special church service last week at the Three Rivers CRC was everything it was billed as, but it just wasn't quite what I'd anticipated.

Roy Williams, a marketing consultant, says that the key to growing a successful business is exceeding the expectations on the customer. If we pay for a $10 meal and got $30 service we'll be back with friends. Of course, expectations go up very easily and come down with great difficulty. Expectations for others that is!

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UPDATE: I realized later that part of this post could be taken wrong. To clarify, I was disappointed at the CRC anniversary not because the service didn't go well or because of anything anyone did or didn't do. I was disappointed because I looked forward to making better friends and meeting people. I invited my parents and ended up spending time with them instead of mingling with others. So I was my own undoing....