There used to be two wholesale plumbing supply businesses in the small town that I currently live in. There was also a retail plumbing and hardware store.
I worked at the retail plumbing and hardware store for about 5 years when the president of one of the wholesale companies approached me concerning a position in his business. He had come in a few times, 2 or 3 months before introducing himself to me. And told me at a later date, he had known from the first visit in, that I was perfect for the position he had in mind.
The rumors of this company going out of business had circulated through the town for months. And even though I knew this, I decided to accept this man’s offer. The pay rate was more than I was making, and the challenge was what I needed at the time. Knowing that this company could shut down at any moment did not frighten me. I had for a time opened up my own little painting company, acquiring a subcontractor’s license, and knew I could fall back on that if I needed to.
I was hired with the job title of Office Manager. But was told in the official interview that until things moved forward again for this company, I would need to also work the counter and possibly deliver the smaller plumbing orders.
Now I understood why he said I was perfect for the position. At the retail store, I had been hired as a salesperson for their plumbing fixtures showroom. In reality, along with plumbing fixtures, I also worked the front counter, helped customers pick out paint, and then mixed it for them. I also helped with sales in the hardware part of the store. I knew how to multi-task while assisting a customer.
Did someone say this was going to be a challenge?
I felt very confident I could keep up with the position he needed to fill. Working the counter was no problem. It was slightly different from the retail store I had been in. The clientele coming in here were licensed plumbers who actually knew what they wanted. It was much easier than the retail customers trying to do their own plumbing and had no clue what they were getting into.
This position was the first place I had ever heard someone use the line: “It is what it is.” That someone was my boss. I looked up and asked him to repeat the sentence. When he did, I smiled and told him I disagreed. We had a short but lighthearted debate on the words. Remember, I am a word person that takes them literally. I can’t remember what brought that statement up, but I told him that those words were too final. To say to a person that “it is what it is” makes it sound like nothing can be done about it. I could understand if it was something like maybe raining and someone had to get to their car and didn’t have an umbrella, okay then the words fit as far as getting wet. But in this day and age, things are a bit different. For example, if a person doesn’t like their hair color, they could change their hair color if they wanted to. He laughed after I got done explaining it and just shook his head. Then he looked at me and said: “I still will say, it is what it is concerning what we were just talking about. When he said one more time to emphasize the saying; it is what it is, one more time to emphasize it, I came right back with “until it isn’t.”
He laughed and said, “Touché” I have been using those two phrases together, complete with the pause between them ever since.
I have found that it is a perfect non-confrontational way to suggest to someone to think about what they just said. Life is too short to go through it assuming that everything life dishes out needs to be permanent. That is why it became my site’s tagline.