Art of Proprietation

Sunday, April 30, 2006

So, what do you do when someone is not following the rules?

This is probably the most difficult task of running a business like this. You are in your home, settling into your own pursuits, and it gets interupted by someone breaking one of your ten commandments. What do you do?

There are probably a lot of answers to this question. This happens to be mine. First, I decide if this is a single incident or is it potentialy a pattern. Is it an unsustainable pattern. Is it going to be be threat to the household by damaging it physically or setting up behavioral that cannot continue? If not, consider the reason behind your rule.

But if the answer is yes, it's time to act. Human behavior, just like objects in motion, gather momentum. If it goes on unapposed, it gets harder to stop. First, don't take it personaly or get emotional about it. It is probably due to a misunderstanding, not malice. Re-explain the rule. That someone feels there could be another way does not make them wrong, but they need to seek that other way somewhere else. As long as they are staying at your establishment, they need to be prepared to follow your rules. It is your responsibility to adequately communicate the rules. It is their responsibility to follow the rules or chose to be elsewhere. I don't like to be confrentational, but at the same time, I find it is important to stand by the principals that I have laid out in my agreement with my tennants