About one month ago, I had my tires replaced at Discount Tires. After they were done, I drove off to work, but a tire error message kept coming up. I was confused as to why this was happening. I went back, and a representative put a tire sensor device close to the tire to see if the sensor was working. The sensors were giving a frequency to show that all were working properly. He told me after I had driven about 15 miles that things should go back to normal. But they didn’t. Three of my sensors were reading on my car screen, but one was showing no tire at all. Something about the sensors wasn’t communicating properly for the relay system to understand.

Have you ever been in a situation where all you want is someone to understand where you are coming from?

A month went by, and I tried to ignore the error message, but it kept showing on my screen. I decided to go back to Discount Tires for them to diagnose and fix the issue. I went to the front and told the representative named Lillian my situation. She took that same device from last time to read the sensors. She said the sensors were fine, and it must be an electrical issue. I reiterated that everything was fine before they changed the tires, and now something wasn’t functioning properly since they changed the tires.

Lillian did a great job allowing me to voice my concerns without interrupting me or getting angry over a difference of opinion. She understood my point without having to agree with me. I respected her for that. Before she drove my car into the car bay, another one of her coworkers talked with her, and they figured out that their device to check the sensors had to be hooked up, and then you have to press “relearn” on my screen for the tire sensors to read correctly. The biggest problem wasn’t that the sensors weren’t working. There was no communication between their device and my vehicle.

Communication is the key, even with technology.

What are three takeaways you can learn from the principle of communication?

Slow to anger – If someone disagrees with you, once you get angry, you can no longer communicate effectively.

Slow to speak – Speaking isn’t the first step to communicating. If you are talking all the time, how can you discover the needs or thoughts of the other person?

Quick to listen – Listening is important. With two ears and one mouth, your body already shows that listening twice as much as you speak is the key to communicating.

​Communication is the basis of understanding someone else. Without understanding, there is no communication.