There’s a show on TV that gets under my skin.
The notion of watching it is akin to enduring dental surgery. The mere mention of it causes me to roll my eyes. If I see a commercial advertising it, I ? and my wife can attest to this ? let out an audible growl.
Here’s its general premise:
A couple owns a home. However, for one reason or another the house has issues. Maybe it’s too small. Maybe it’s on a busy street. Maybe it’s haunted.
Regardless of the reason, they want to move. Well, one of them wants to move. The other half of the couple adores the house and wants to grow old there, die there, and be buried on the property with all the other haunting spirits.
And so, an interior designer sets out to convince the “I hate this house” half of the couple to stay. The couple gives her a max budget and a list of must haves.
“If you want us to stay in this house, we must have these things” the couple tells the interior designer.
And this is where the show loses me.
One by one, “unforeseen” problems arise. The interior designer didn’t account for the possibility a house built in the 1920s might have electrical issues, so #1 on the “must have” list goes bye-bye.
Later, the interior designer is taken aback by the news the basement has water issues. Even though every other house she’s tackled on the show has had water issues in the basement, she’s flabbergasted.
“Now I have to tell (the couple) they aren’t getting their new kitchen,” she tells her contractor. Poof! Item #2 on the must-have list goes up in the smoke.
By the end, the only “must haves” the couple sees for their hefty sum of money are the ones at the bottom of their list.
They should be furious.
They should be screaming, “We paid you $50,000 and all we get are bigger closets and overly-decorated bedrooms?!”
But they don’t.
Both halves of the couple ooh and awe over the giant closets. They go gaga over the fancy, overpriced, soon-to-be-broken furniture in their children’s bedrooms. They foam at the mouth over the new headboard in their master bedroom.
Why does the show irk me so?
Because this isn’t real life.
People Aren’t So Easy To Forget Disappointments
Bloggers don’t have it easy like interior designers on reality TV shows.
Did you promise to deliver something by a certain date? Did you write a guest post for someone, but not participate in its promotion? Did you forget to respond to a kind email someone sent you?
Slights, letdowns, and broken promises aren’t easily forgotten the way they are on television. In real life, people remember them.
And, sooner or later, those disappointments will come back to bite you.
People will stop asking you to participate in expert roundups if you never respond on time. People will stop offering you writing opportunities once it’s common knowledge you never respond to comments. People will stop sending you kind emails if you never bother say thanks.
Before you know it, your blog is as popular as a haunted house with actual skeletons in its giant, expertly-decorated closets.
Our word matters.
Let’s be sure to keep it.
