Do you find that people are generally fair and even generous towards you?
Last week I put a bedframe I no longer needed up for sale online. One person quickly expressed interest and asked for current pictures of the item (rather than from the IKEA website, as I had put on the listing), noting that they had been burned before on things not being in good condition. Once I loaded current photos, I then asked if, rather than wait for the auction to close, they would consider agreeing on a price and then collecting it at the weekend so I could make space. It had originally cost £349 and I had put a “buy now” price on it of £145 to look to make space. A day or two later, on Saturday morning, I messaged them to ask if they’d like to buy it and collect that day and, if so, to make me an offer. They offered £100 and, though a low price for the value, I wanted the item cleared from that room so agreed. A few hours later the buyer arrived and I helped them carry the parts to their car, then explained a trick they’d need to know in order to assemble it quickly.
Once we were all done, they then said: “I’d like to pay you some more money for this, would another £50 be ok?”. I was pleased, as I had not expected this. I graciously accepted and they then explained that, once they saw it was in “as new” condition, they felt that it would the fair thing to do.
I was truly impressed. We then had a conversation about values, fairness and abundance (regular readers may know that my ultimate core value is FAIR). The buyer noted they had lost their job at the end of last year and has now been working for a delivery driver for a supermarket chain. In four weeks of being kind and cheerful with customers and colleagues, their manager had already asked them “how do I clone you?”. I told them a little of my background and experience in business as an employer so as to frame my reassurance to them that they would find new employment in their expert field, that businesses would see that they had so much more to offer through how they show up.
I did then, having heard their story, think to decline their offer to pay the £50, as their need is greater for sure, but then felt to accept the payment, rather than somehow block thier outpouring of fairness and abundance. It was a wonderful and affirming experience, as well as a reminder to me to, whatever the circumstances, always be fair and abundant.
Oh and one more reminder (for all of us, including myself), that abundance is giving without the expectation of anything in return, though it is funny how (IMO) the more we are abundant, the more we experience it from others.