A poem that used to be on a plaque

In my grandmother's kitchen:

Be careful of the words you say
Make them soft and sweet.
You never know from day to day
Which ones you'll have to eat.

Now, while I don't suffer fools gladly, I'm pretty decent about honest mistakes and miscues.

I emailed Mark about the work and money needed to repair the cat enclosure. I was polite about it, but I was firm about it, and backed up my issues with facts. He immediately offered to transfer the $200 back to our bank. Wing liked this idea of mine better. I called Mark and suggested this: work up an estimate for putting in a soakwell, and credit us the $200 on the job. He was amenable. :)

Today, I got my digital photography magazine in the mail. I went to the photo comp section only to find out I had received my magazine 2 days after the deadline. I emailed the company, telling the politely yet firmly that first it was my Feb/March issue that never arrived, and now my April/May issue arrived late, and this just will not do. After sending, I called the company too I explained the situation, told him what page it was on, my subscriber ID. I got apologies, a waiver on the deadline, and my photo was accepted.

So, politeness does still work. :)