Usually I wouldn't cry and carry on about such little thing, but the thought has been much on my mind lately. Why can't people just respect one another? Seriously, why do people have such a hard time realizing that the person that takes our money at the grocery is a real, thinking, feeling human being? I work a meaningless, mind-numbing retail job. Maybe 1 in 10 actually look me in the eye, even fewer look at me as though I might actually have a brain cell or two. (I'm thinking of starting a count... The empirical scientist in me is crying out) Daddy Mushroom said to me today, "You know, the hardest part of any job is trying to explain it to outsiders." This is exactly what set me off today. A regular customer asked me (rhetorically, of course - he didn't really want to know the answer) why we didn't have another register open, because he had to wait (all of an extra thirty seconds) to pay. He was very confrontational, very rude, and it hurt my feelings because this is someone I've talked to, chatted with, and always given the best service possible. My first thought was, well now let's see what kind of service I give him next time. Then I realized that then I would be giving in to the meanies, and treating him with the same disrespect that he showed me. So, now matter how temporarily good it might make me feel, I will not be making any snide remarks, frowning, or glaring. I'll make excuses for him... He was just having a bad day. I'm just sad he decided he'd take it out on me. And that is where my point comes in. Some people are so arrogant as to think that they must know the best way to do anything, even if they have no experience with the subject at hand. And why is that? It's all a basic lack of respect. An "I'm smarter than you are" attitude. So just because I work a register, I'm too dumb to know how to do anything else, and too incompetent to know my own job well enough to do it right. If I've learned nothing else from five years behind a counter, I've learned not to judge, not to assume, and always to tip well. So, here's my picture... my boys trying on someone else's shoes, to remind me to always try to do the same.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Usually I wouldn't cry and carry on about such little thing, but the thought has been much on my mind lately. Why can't people just respect one another? Seriously, why do people have such a hard time realizing that the person that takes our money at the grocery is a real, thinking, feeling human being? I work a meaningless, mind-numbing retail job. Maybe 1 in 10 actually look me in the eye, even fewer look at me as though I might actually have a brain cell or two. (I'm thinking of starting a count... The empirical scientist in me is crying out) Daddy Mushroom said to me today, "You know, the hardest part of any job is trying to explain it to outsiders." This is exactly what set me off today. A regular customer asked me (rhetorically, of course - he didn't really want to know the answer) why we didn't have another register open, because he had to wait (all of an extra thirty seconds) to pay. He was very confrontational, very rude, and it hurt my feelings because this is someone I've talked to, chatted with, and always given the best service possible. My first thought was, well now let's see what kind of service I give him next time. Then I realized that then I would be giving in to the meanies, and treating him with the same disrespect that he showed me. So, now matter how temporarily good it might make me feel, I will not be making any snide remarks, frowning, or glaring. I'll make excuses for him... He was just having a bad day. I'm just sad he decided he'd take it out on me. And that is where my point comes in. Some people are so arrogant as to think that they must know the best way to do anything, even if they have no experience with the subject at hand. And why is that? It's all a basic lack of respect. An "I'm smarter than you are" attitude. So just because I work a register, I'm too dumb to know how to do anything else, and too incompetent to know my own job well enough to do it right. If I've learned nothing else from five years behind a counter, I've learned not to judge, not to assume, and always to tip well. So, here's my picture... my boys trying on someone else's shoes, to remind me to always try to do the same.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I know what you mean. I used to work in retail, back in high school and in college, and you couldn't pay me enough to go back.
You're right when you say that people do not bother to consider much the feelings of others. But what surprises me even more is that they seem unconcerned with how their behavior reflects on themselves.
After all, most people are selfish, but they want to be seen by others as good. Given that how we see others is, at least partially, a function of how they behave, you'd think that self-interest alone would endenger better conduct.
Yes, you'd imagine that self-interest would keep people at least civil, but it just doesn't seem to work that way. It's extra annoying that I live in the Bible-belt, and the worst day of the week is Sunday. It's so hypocritical of people to get up to go worship and act hateful to everyone on their way to and from church. Just goes to explain how I've not even tried to join a church here. You're going to treat me like dirt under your feet, and then want me to listen to you about how to save *my* soul? Ha!
mushroom mama at church??? I just don't see it. Bible belt or not.
I remember leaving church when I was younger and the parking lot was just nuts. People screaming at each other, accidents, all kinds of craziness. It was oh, so Godly...
I love that pic of the boys with the big shoes to fill. So philosophical.
Post a Comment