Emily's story

No, this isn't Emily. And baby Grey isn't Emily either. This is my brother, Jake. He and I have been talking lately about how much we love "How to Win Friends and Influence People." He's read it quite a few times, and it's obvious that he's taken the principles to heart...whenever we're at a store, he ALWAYS talks to the sales clerk and calls them by name. When we were in chinatown at the fortune cookie factory, he found out the name of the factory worker (who looked really depressed) and struck up a conversation with her. She ended up smiling so big I thought her face was going to crack and she wanted to take pictures with him! (of course it helped that he knew how to speak Mandarin, but whatever.)

So he just sent me this story that he wrote of an experience that happened to him, and I thought I'd share it with you:

I felt as though I had just been hit in the stomach; I had never been so insulted in my entire life and here I was in the manager’s office at my place of employment. My manager continued with her slew of negative commentary as I stood there and yet once again took the verbal abuse without rebuttal.


As I drove home that evening, I was resolved to take care of the problem once and for all. I wrote a letter to my manager informing her of how I truly felt about her. When I was done venting my anger on paper, I then wrote another letter to her superiors explaining how I had been treated over the past several months. Upon completion of the two documents, I set them aside and began analyzing my course of actions. I knelt to pray, and asked my Father in Heaven for guidance on how to best remedy my issues in my work place.


Over the next few days, the personal attacks at work increasingly worsened. One afternoon while taking my lunch break, I sat in my car. I once more prayed for divine assistance on how to best handle my current situation. I then opened the Sunday School manual and turned to the lesson scheduled for the following day. As I followed the suggested reading outline in the lesson, I found my self cross-referencing to scriptures in the New Testament, particularly the book of Matthew. As I was reading, one verse stood out in my mind:


“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44)
I then thought to myself, “There has got to be a better way to handle this situation; a more difficult, but a better way.” For the rest of the evening my mind continued to reflect upon that scripture which is part of Christ’s great Sermon on the Mount. On my drive home late that Saturday night, I felt impressed to pull off the highway, and quickly realized I was near the location of my manager’s home. As I pulled up in front of her home, I noticed her driveway was blanketed in deep snow. “She must be too busy to clear it,” I thought. I saw a snow shovel by the front door, and immediately started to clear her driveway. After I had completed the task, I left a note on her door saying, “Happy Sabbath” since in just a few hours it would be Sunday, and then I signed my name.


Upon my arrival home, I took the letters I had previously written and threw them in the trash can, knowing that sending these letters was not the right way to handle things. After falling asleep, I awoke in the middle of the night to my phone ringing. I answered the phone and was surprised to hear that it was my manager on the other end of the line. With emotion in her voice, she said, “Jason, Thank you so much for shoveling my driveway. No one has ever done anything so nice for me in my entire life. I am rarely shocked, but tonight I was.” She then rehearsed to me how difficult her life had been recently and the hardships associated with being single and living alone. She then apologized by saying, “I have been so stressed lately and have been taking it out on others. I am so sorry!” She continued, “Thank you for helping me remember the importance of the Sabbath Day; I have not been to church since High School and don’t even know what ward I’m in.” In absolute amazement I blurted out, “What…You’re Mormon?” I then took a moment to let her know that all of us that worked with her were grateful for all the hard work and long hours she put in to help the company. We chatted briefly, and I then concluded our conversation by asking if there was anything else I could do for her.


Since that phone call, the days at work have been pleasant and she has never been more kind. I was able to solve a problem more effectively than I ever thought possible. I am grateful that I chose to study the Sunday School lesson. I know that because of my obedience in doing so, while calling upon the Lord for His help, the Spirit was able to teach me a “more difficult, but a better way” to handle life’s problems.