Support for Those Who Support You

Are you ready for a winding rollercoaster of a blog loaded with tangets, non-seqitors, explative laden paragraphs and completely biased opinions? Alrightie then, let's do this.

Let's just get this out of the way: My juice fast lasted 2 1/2 days. I proved to be more of a juice bastard than a juice master. I'm gonna go ahead and blame my timing of the diet as we had just adopted a puppy and Cynthia wasn't ready to commit that length of time. So, I now officially shift the blame (mid-paragraph) from my poor timing to Cynthia, in which I will now receive no love and a verbal beating of unprecedented porportions. What's surprising to me is how easy it was to not eat for over two days. The lemonade is actually very tasty and it kept the hunger pangs away. We plan on attempting it again later this summer. Now, on to other matters.

I'm annoyed. Scratch that, I'm pissed. And I'm pissed at just about everyone. And what I'm pissed about is people's apparent lack of decency when interacting with individuals who serve in supportive, serving or subordinate roles. I've seen receptionists berrated by visitors, vendors no less; I've seen servers at restaurants take abuse from angry customers; the barrista at every Starbucks on the planet, the girl working at the Bath & Body Works who can't adjust the price of an item just for you. These individuals work to serve us, yet we somehow feel entitled to get what we want from them exactly how we want it exactly when we want it - and damnit, they never get my order right. On the other hand, maybe the treatment is justified. I mean, these people must be less intelligent than myself if this is the only work they could find, right?

Most us us have worked in retail or waited tables or answered phones when we were younger and we should remember how it was to perform menial tasks & deal with ungrateful customers (internal and external). I like to think that the support role is a temporary condition. It's a summer gigfor some, and for many it's a means to supplement their income or a way to work between career-relevant jobs. Many of those who bring us our dinners hold graduate degrees. However, I tend not to put much credence in the theory that a college degree equates a high-intellect, high-quality output from an employee. I've met too may MBA's who couldn't tie their shoes. They were just lucky enough to have a mommy and daddy wealthy enough to buy them their education. Real life experience, natural intelligence, the ability to get along with others and the desire to grow are, to me, what what makes for a great employee. But I digress.

Why do we neglect, abuse or completely ignore those who work to support us? Why do we take what we can from them and give back little (outside of waiters, for whom, tips are the only reason for putting up with us)? Are we all so wrapped up in ourselves & our own image of self-importance that courtesy goes bye bye?

Try saying thank you, or smiling or maybe even participating in a little idle chatter with the kid behind the counter as you wait for your incredibly sophisticated sounding venti.* (see, I can make DOS jokes too) latte. A little bit of courtesy goes a long way. Everyone needs to feel appreciated. These people are making a lot less than you and I'm willing to bet the stress levels are fairly relative to what you'd experience in a given workday.

Here's one way to see it: Be nice to those who serve you in a supporting role, they're doing the bullshit menial tasks that you could easily do yourself, but are very much above doing.