Do Your Job - Guest Post - Part 1
The following is a guest post from one of my readers. It’s a two-parter that discusses the lack of customer service in today’s world.
Do Your JOB!
This has become my new mantra! I can’t believe the number of people in our society who simply can’t or won’t DO THEIR JOB! For example, I stopped by my friendly pharmacy the other day to pick up some medication. Now one would think, that if one is trained to work in a pharmacy, one would know that perhaps, just perhaps… the reason customers are picking up specific medication from the pharmacy is because they may have some physical health challenge which requires some level of compassion on the part of the pharmacy employee.
Gee…Ya think?
Not the case here. Compassion 101 was apparently not covered in the employee training manual. Either that, or young Jessica was more interested in text messaging her boyfriend during her break than she was in doing her job. The wannabe employee actually told a sweet little old lady to “move out of the way.” Did the kid not notice this precious old soul was hanging on to the counter just to hold her self steady? Did she not notice the walker next to the woman? Did she not notice it took this older woman nearly three minutes to walk the four feet from the front of the very long line up to the counter in the first place?
Please dear young pharmacy employee…recognize the possibility that IF someone is picking up medication…they just might be feeling under the weather, or move a bit slower, or require an extra bit of TLC. And for goodness sake…don’t tell a feeble elderly woman to “move out of the way!”
My worst experience (and I’m probably not alone here) was in the DMV office. No surprise there, eh? The only congruency in that place was the crooked photograph of a top ranking federal official hanging on the wall over the work station of someone no doubt voted most incompetent employee of the year. The photograph of Soontobe Outofajob hung over the head of an employee lazily thumbing through a Christmas catalog while I stood at the window waiting to be served. Due to her continuing to shop while waiting on me, the employee failed to DO HER JOB! Of course I had to come back later to correct her error.
Something strange happened to me on that second trip into the DMV though. I felt oddly calm. It was a bit unnerving in fact. I could tell that Catalog Santa was a tad unnerved by my behavior as well, when I returned to her window a second time. By then, I had run into too many people who had stopped caring about customer service and had failed to DO THEIR JOB! Poor woman. She became the proverbial straw that broke THIS camel’s back.
This time…I didn’t speak. I hissed in an ever so calm voice that didn’t sound at all like me. I squinted my eyes as I said that if ssssssshe didn’t put down the catalog and stop sssssssshopping for her Christmas presents while she waited on me THISssssssss time, then I would surely GO Posssssstal on her!
Then, and only then, did she finally DO HER JOB!
Stay tuned for Part 2
Related posts:
5 Responses to “Do Your Job - Guest Post - Part 1”
[...] up from where Part 1 left [...]
[...] few days ago, I posted a guest entry about the lack of customer service in the world today. The following is a response to that post [...]
Thanks for the different perspective. I can’t help but wonder though, if part of the reason our world and society is in the shape it is in…is the number of people are have become very near “not caring.” It is when we speak up and educate people (including ourselves) about how it’s not okay to mistreat others (aka tolerating poor service from a government run agency and/or being rude to an ailing elderly person in a pharmacy) that EACH of us can actually “change” our apathetic society in order to create a more caring, nurturing environment. It is when we each BEGIN to “care” again…that our world will change, one person at a time. Oh…by the way, In your “tweeted” post…the man on the street with the sign about jet fuel…is just that…a man…not a bum.
Thanks for teaching me a new perspective. I’ll try not to have so many radical “60’s moments” in the future.
Has the number of people that don’t care actually increased, or is it your perspective that makes it seem like that is the case? There’s a question.
I don’t disagree that there is a need for some level of ‘compassion education,’ but I feel like the mentality of ‘if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em’ has taken hold of the majority, although I wouldn’t say I have quite fallen victim.
I think we are at a “turning point.” At least I HOPE so. We have a candidate who actually “believes” in change…and not just to tailgate the use of the word for a convention speech, if you know what I mean. I think we (as a society) are seeing and beginning to recognize the ramifications of the “focus on self” the “let them eat cake” sort of attitude that has taken hold over the last 20 years or so. I also believe that various experiences in the world (Global Warming; world wide traumas such as hurricanes /earthquakes etc; not to mention wars and civil wars) are ALSO serving to open our eyes that it’s not always just about “our” little world, but that we are “together” in this mess. It is when “our personal world” changes…our personal view of how we can be compassionate, loving, make a difference, or vote for someone who can actually “do their job” that we will actually “feel” the change.
It can be tempting so ask, when things seem so futile, “What can “I” do to make a difference in this world?” and so in that sense of futility, many people just give up trying…or even caring.
Speaking the truth about what is not okay in the world (even our little world) CAN make a difference. When we stop tolerating “less than”, we will begin to realize that our small efforts can offer an opportunity for the larger world to actually experience the blessed joy of having “more than.” Now wouldn’t THAT be great?
How will EACH of you care today? How will you make one small change in “your world” so that it affects “our whole world”? It only takes one drop to create a ripple.