Taking the good with the bad

I love owning and operating my own business, but there are times when I just wonder what it's all for.

These two punk kids walked by my store window this morning, and stared inside for several minutes. They didn't really move or say anything, but they just sort of kept looking. I finally waved at them to come on in (they might be young, but hey, a sale is a sale), at which point they both gave me "the finger." Laughing, they took off down the street on their skateboards.

Now I don't mind a good joke now and again, but my question is this: what if I'd been waiting on a customer at the time? Fortunately I had no customers right then (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), but what if the store had been full of people? Just how much respect would I have commanded from my patrons if they had seen that kind of behavior directed toward me? Not much, I guarantee you.

Most of my career as a businessman and entrepreneur has been very good. While a few bad apples won't spoil the whole bunch, I have to say it really irked me, and made me question for a moment or two why I do this day after day.

If patience is my biggest virtue, then it just jumped up several tax brackets!! (As in, "they are taxing my patience").