Expectation Vs Appreciation

Expectation VS Appreciation


I am in a suite in the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Singapore. It has a huge bed with even bigger Pillows. I like it. I quickly run to check out the toilet. Toilets in hotels are always the highlight of the room for me. This particular toilet had a huge octagonal window right next to the super sized sunken bath tub. Sitting in the bath tub, I could watch the world go by.

I loved it, the little bath oil balls, the bulgari toiletries etc. As I was soaking in the luxury I noticed the wilted orchids in the bathroom and that was it. From then on I started to look out for what was missing or not up to my expectation.

The key word being “EXPECTATION”. My husband had stayed in the same hotel about a month ago and called me to tell me what a wonderful room it was and how everything was just so perfect. He insisted that I accompany him on the next trip, which I did. We brought our 5 year old daughter along and decided to have a short break in Singapore.

As we were about to retire for the night, I called house keeping for a children’s pillow and a hard pillow. House keeping called back saying they would send me the hard pillow, but were unable to find a child pillow. I went in for a shower and noticed that there was no shampoo or conditioner in the bath, just bath soap and body lotion. When I came out of the shower I noticed that the bed side clock was 5 hours behind time. By now I was a bit upset. I thought of calling the duty manager letting him/her know of my disappointment but didn’t I stewed , raved and ranted and yet did nothing about it.

Of course, I could not sleep. I was too miserable to sleep. The next morning, I waited to see if the hotel staff would notice the faux pas and fix them. I left the room and when I came back, went straight to the bathroom to see if the things were in order. Well, the orchids had been replaced and the toiletries provided, but somehow , I was still miserable.

WHY??

Because, I had very high expectation and I was looking out for what was not there. I expected a bowl of fruit in the room, I expected fresh flowers, a personal welcome message instead of the generic one, something special for my child ( on a recent stay in the mandarin in HKG my friends children were treated like royalty).

My point being; my high expectation led me to disappointment.

If only , I had taken the time to be appreciative of the beautiful view from the giant window, The lovely bath oils , the fluffy robes and towels, No, all I was doing was cribbing and looking out for what was not there and not appreciating what was there.

Old habits die hard, the critic in me was desperately rearing its ugly head.
But by now I was aware of my old habit and immediately went into damage control. I changed my thinking into that of appreciation and gratitude. Had two glasses of wine and suddenly everything around me became beautiful. The fact was that I was in a lovely hotel, where all I had to do was press the house keeping button, remove the DND on the door and my room would be made up. Piping hot food and chilled champagne would be delivered to my room ( if I wanted), and I could watch the traffic jam from my bathroom!

The next evening, I decided to call the duty manger and told her that I was going to write an article on Expectation vs Appreciation and I would be mentioning my experience. The call was not for complaining, it was just to let her know that I would be writing something and even though my experience was not all positive, it was not a negative article.

Wow! There was immediate service recovery. The PR lady was Evelyn Yo and she was extremely apologetic and really nice. I had fruits and chocolates in my room. My daughter had goody bags which were very thoughtfully filled.

The next evening was even better, there was special children’s bathrobe, child slippers , child pillow and blanket for my daughter. Turn down service was impeccable and there was a lovely note from the house keeper. My expectation was met…..maybe even exceeded. All I had to do was be appreciative of what there was and ask for what was missing. It was that simple.

Life can be that simple if we allow it to be. Law Of Attraction states that we are responsible for everything in our life. We attract whatever there is, whether it is happiness or misery. I could have chosen to be miserable for the duration of my stay by complaining and expecting or I could have chosen to be appreciative and gracious and asked for more. I did the latter and my request was granted.

As Esther Hicks says “ ASK and it is GIVEN”.

Life can be so wonderful and fulfilling only if we choose to appreciate what there is and ask for more.

Luv/luck/ happiness