A friend of mine once told me that they were planning to take a family member out to dinner for their birthday, but they were not looking forward to the event. I assumed that this meant that there was an ongoing conflict between the two and asked what the source of the conflict was. My friend told me that there was no conflict but that when their family member interacted with servers at a restaurant, they often were overly demanding, hyper-critical, and rude. He said that it seemed that his family member was never satisfied and consistently critical to a point that he was embarrassed to share a meal with him.

I fear the consumer-focused world we live in encourages a complaintive spirit. Business owners rightly are concerned that a bad review, fair or unfair, could hurt their business. Consumers today are well versed in all the ways that opinions and reviews can be posted online about businesses. This, along with the often-repeated mantra that “the customer is always right,” creates an atmosphere where entitlement and selfishness can run amuck.

We are people of stories. We tell stories to chronicle our history and express who we are. The stories we tell about ourselves paint the mural of who we are, what events have shaped us, what we hope to become, and how we hope to be remembered. Our stories are living things. How we tell them, when we tell them, who we tell them too, and what details we include (and exclude) all are part of the living story. Listening to others tell their stories helps you understand and know their heart. Understanding and knowing another’s heart goes a long way to helping you be more gracious towards them.