I can't fathom not being polite and respectful to those in the service industry. Even when I've been mistreated by them. Guess it was how I was raised?
I can't fathom not being polite and respectful to those in the service industry. Even when I've been mistreated by them. Guess it was how I was raised?
M2Pilot said:ShawnG said:Every single person in this world needs to spend at least 5 years in a customer service job. Just so they can learn how to be a decent human being.
Just a 5 day stint for everyone would go a long way.
It might not always work out that way. Sadly, some people are of the mentality that they had to suffer, so others should, too.
ShawnG said:Every single person in this world needs to spend at least 5 years in a customer service job. Just so they can learn how to be a decent human being.
I kind of agree with that, but I have a slightly different twist. I believe that no matter what job you have, you have a customer service job. Sometimes your direct interactions are with an internal customer, sometimes with an external customer, sometimes both. But no matter what you do for a living, in the end you get a check every two weeks because there are people that choose to spend their money with you or the people you work for and they deserve to be delighted to do so.
And that applies to gubbmint jobs, too, although perhaps a little less directly.
Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:Don't forget the trash and yard waste crews. It's tough working outside here in Florida. I keep bottles of cold water in the refrigerator to hand out to them, as well as the county work crews, utility crews, the guys that pumped my septic tank last summer...
Back in the late 70's my sister worked for a local garbage company and the drivers were all part of her party group.
When she got home late she would put 2 cans of beer under the garbage lid for our garbage guy who drank them for lunch.
Today I run my garbage guys water. I can say it was a different era but go into Speedway Gas on a Friday at lunch and check the guys buying two 1/2 quart beers for lunch.
Busy night at work, pardon the ramble... A while back a young homeless guy ambled into a dark street at night and was hit by a car. His body was damaged pretty badly and we were called to fly him to a trauma center. During the flight he kept apologizing to us for all the trouble of keeping him alive and thanking the medics for everything they did. His attitude was touching and not something we see from many people.
Everyone's circumstances are different. Enabling people to live badly does not help them. Still, a moment of kindness, seeing the broken person huddling cold in the shadow rather than averting your eyes as you pass.
This morning as daylight started to push back the shadows, I took out the trash. There was a pile of worn rags by the back doorway of our building - no, it was a person sleeping. I went back to the office and made a cup of cocoa, put it in my thermos. The man stirred when I went back out and asked if he was okay. Then, "You should probably leave soon. All the day workers will be showing up. Do you want a warm drink?" A soft sad voice under the rags said, "Thank you." The tattoo on the arm that reached out reminded me of the broken man that had been hit by the car ...I don't know. He stayed covered. I retreated. He was gone 15 minutes later.
My point? I'm not sure what it was... it's well past my nap time. something about kindness, humanity, and making a small gesture.
and I need a new thermos.
I try to thank everyone and just generally be nice. If I find myself getting upset or frustrated at someone, I try hard (may not always succeed) to put myself in their shoes. Maybe they cut me off because they're in a rush to the hospital, or pick their kid up from school. Maybe the surly counter person just got chewed out by a nutty customer or found out they won't get 40 hours scheduled this week. So, I just try to smile, say thank you, try to lighten the mood a bit, anything to connect as humans.
Same thing occurs online and as we're more online now, it's even more important. If I feel slighted by something someone said and bust out the keyboard to start flaming, I try to stop myself and read it again. More often than not, what they said was not how I perceived it and my personal feelings at that moment made me react. If I've had a bad day, I've seen myself get more frustrated by being online than I normally would, so I try to remind myself of that. Same idea on the other side. Someone flaming me? What's going on in their life? Do they feel "out of control" in their own life, so taking to the keyboard makes them feel like they have some control back in their life? Did they just lose their job, kid got in trouble at school, had a bill they weren't expecting so the next week will be tough financially, etc? Maybe none of that and they're just an shiny happy person, but it sure makes might life easier to imagine one of them and be able to move on.
Personal story: My son gave me one of the best compliments I've ever heard in my life when he was about 9. We were traveling to the kart track (like we did a lot) and had pulled into a gas station in the middle of nowhere for snacks, drinks and a potty break. When we got up to the counter, the counter person had obviously had a bad day. Surly, short, etc. I don't recall what I said to her, but I got a grin out of here and her dour face lit up just a little bit. Really a tiny thing so much so, I didn't realize I did it.
When we got back in the truck, my son said, "Dad, I wanna be like you when I grow up." Having NO idea what he was talking about, I thought "Oh no, what nutty thing did I just do that he's now going to do at probably the wrong time? :D " I asked him, "what's that, bud?" He said, "I wanna make people smile. You always make people smile and that's nice"
It was just pure honesty from a kid. I hugged him and thanked him and had to compose myself before we could get back on the road because someone was cutting a bag of onions in the back seat.
-Rob
Drove through a construction zone today. Witnessed an interaction that made me think of this thread.
4-lane highway with a median narrowed down to 2-lane highway, left lane merging into the right lane for my direction of traffic. I was in the left lane, car in front of me was also in the left lane (duh.) Car in front of me had their blinker on, the car in the right lane was right on the bumper of the guy in front of them and wasn't going to let them in. Lane was narrowing down and they played chicken. Guy in my lane kinda jerked his wheel and the guy in the right lane lost the game of chicken and hit the brakes. I see him roll down his window and throw out the bird at the guy behind him.
Meanwhile, while this is going on I also have my blinker on and the person behind me was a good human being and let me in with plenty of room to spare. As my window is always down I wave "thank you" as I'm merging over.
Doesn't take effort to be a nice person
I had recently dated a nurse (didn't work out, more on that later) She is neonatal and women/children specifically. They are so strapped for help that they are offering nurses $80/hr IN ADDITION to their regular pay to work extra shifts and many of them aren't taking the shifts because they get so much crap from patients during their regular hours that they can't endure more. She said that people are so unhappy being in a hospital, and they have this misguided notion that (because it's healthcare) the patient is always right. They're in pain. They're stressed that their premature baby might die. They've never had a child and don't even know how to breastfeed. It's a ridiculously stressful time for obvious reasons. They panic and lash out at nurses.
She lives for the rare times when someone thanks her for being amazing. I would tell her all the time that she had a superpower. Think of how many babies would not be alive right now if she didn't catch something, or if an otherwise unsupervised birth had complications. Something that is commonplace to her like a tangled umbilical cord in her capable hands could mean tragedy without her.
She is so jaded on the whole thing. Thanking those who kick ass for doing something that they think is common can be so powerful.
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:I would tell her all the time that she had a superpower.
She is so jaded on the whole thing. Thanking those who kick ass for doing something that they think is common can be so powerful.
Back when the wife was the girlfriend, she did a lot more hands-on work with kids on the ASD band. Now she is doing more management style work which doesn't get her that key hands-on stuff and as a result kind of hates what she does.
She worked with a kid that was ~15 years old or so, hadn't spoken in a decade. She got him to start talking again. It amazed me then and it still does. She spoke about it like it was Tuesday.
In reply to Mr_Asa :
Yes. I struggled with this nurse/date lady (we'll call her Pie Girl for reasons only known to me... and that's not a sexual reference, but I always refer to my loves by a nickname here) trying to get her to see my perspective. She is a human like anyone else, but her skill set made her a giver of life and a literal life saver. She was so focused on the beatings she took from patients' mouths and I tried to help her focus on the beauty of what she does.
Your wife is a saint of a similar flavor. And I'm a saint of carpentry and fabrication. And you're a saint of cutting perfectly good LS heads.
We all have our beauty.
We all rock, and when we use our hearts to tell someone else that THEY rock, it's a great thing.
I saw this at a restaurant in Youngstown and took a picture.
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