I was working on a budget with a couple in financial counseling, and we were planning out the different expenses for the upcoming month. As we were going through the dates, we looked at the budget and saw their anniversary landed on the same week as some of their major expenses, leaving little to no leeway for a special celebration.
One of the members was pretty bummed. I attempted to console her, stating that as long as they did something together, the day would be special. She understood and said they’d try to make the best of it. Then this fell right out of my mouth: “You know what? Chaffey is going to give you a special dinner for your anniversary!”
It was spontaneous. I had no approval from management, which I thought was fine because it was coming from me and not the credit union. Sometimes, gifts or attempts at kindness might be misconstrued as judgement. I said dinner was from the credit union to create a greater sense of openness for the members to accept the kindness. It was more like winning a sweepstake than a gift based on sympathy.
This story was submitted on behalf of Dereck Sandoval, Financial Empowerment Specialist at Chaffey FCU.
