Appropriately Welcomed

So I spent Saturday helping my church organize one of our training sessions for our greeting team. One of its main ideas was the idea of appropriately welcoming guests. One of the great aspects of a large church is the ability to be anonymous when checking it out. One of the difficulties is feeling important and relevant when one has a question. The idea of appropriately welcoming guests means not pouncing on the people who want to be left alone, but also helping the people who, well, want help.

Fast forward twenty-four hours, and I was attending a bridal show and checking out all the vendors. It's striking to me how the same principle applied: Often I was standing around, mildly interested in a vendor, but not really knowing what to ask or how to start the conversation. The vendor would say hi - or perhaps just ignore me - but didn't try to engage me and find out what I wanted. I'm not sure I wanted the product to begin with, but I certainly didn't make a mental note to check out that vendor's site when I got home.

Other vendors did a good job of saying hello, asking about my interest, and providing a relevant spiel. They were enthusiastic and informed, and while they didn't overwhelm me with sales pitches, they answered my questions and invited me to ask more. Intellectually, I know that people skills and competence don't go together, but emotionally I feel warmer toward these vendors. They certainly presented themselves better - and I'll probably check them out again.

(And yes, there were the vendors that launched sales pitches at me no matter what I said? "What, you want to move to Africa? Well, you need a $10,000 2,000lb cooking set, brand new. Sign up now and you can win a free cruise - nevermind if you are easily motion sick...")

It's weird to look at how a very basic Christian principle "Love people; be hospitable." intersects with the capitalistic business principle of "sales."