I have always respected my elders and everyone in general. I’m
not sure if this was something that was instilled in me from my parents,
teachers or others but I obviously learnt it somewhere along the way when
growing up. Working in customer service you come to realise a lot of people
missed this lesson as they were growing up and are just completely rude for no
reason. It’s an interesting study into
human behaviour when you have to be nice to people no matter how they treat you.
I fail to see how me asking somebody how their day is or if
they would like some help makes them think they automatically have the right to
be rude to me. Sometimes they snap back at me without listening, some of them
just completely ignore me and don’t even respond but instead prefer to pretend
I don’t exist. Others and this is my favourite, literally hold their hand up
in front of me to stop me from getting close to them and tell me to go away.
Seriously people, am I that intimidating to you that you need to block me? By
the way I don’t ever get close enough to be in someone’s personal space in the
first place.
There are however, a bunch of lovely customers who politely
thank me, whether they accept my help or not. These are the ones I love. People
who obviously have manners and know it’s respectful to treat others the way you
would like to be treated. My favourite customers are the ones who stay and talk
to me for ages, I know their life stories and sometimes they have been coming
in to see me for years. I LOVE these women. They are the reason why I go to
work (well apart from my need for money in order to live).
Wearing the neck brace has made people’s reactions so much
more interesting. The most common reaction has been people asking me why I’m
wearing a neck brace – mostly because they are just nosy and have to know
everything. A few lovely people have actually gone beyond that and had a
conversation about it with me and expressed genuine concern for my wellbeing
and even said they hope I’m feeling better soon when they leave. These people
restore my faith in human nature (trust me it gets tested every day). One lady
today asked me from behind for help and when I turned around she just froze and
couldn’t stop staring at my neck and then eventually apologised for asking for
help. It was mildly hilarious that a piece of cotton around my neck could freak
her out so much she was lost for words.
Do you think about the way you treat others before you say
something to people? Do you consciously make an effort to be polite to people
each day? It would be a more pleasant day for everyone if each morning we all
did this.
In addition to this please don’t
judge people by their appearances because it has nothing to do with who they
are. My car accident was not my fault and yet it’s affecting the way everyone
is interacting with me now that I have the neck brace on. Don’t judge a book by
its cover; read a few pages before you form an opinion.
Toni x
Toni, I live by this rule and teach my kids this as well. Thanks for popping by my blog and commenting. I love how you ate so much chocolate mousse it made you sick. I think I was pretty much the same! LOL
ReplyDeleteAnne xx
I try to Toni - I may not always manage it as well as I should but I hope I'm never rude.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I'm not sure I'd be very good in a job where I HAD to be nice! Thanks for Rewinding.
ReplyDeleteIts very testing when you have to put up with people being rude and you cant say anything back. Some people actually think its ok to treat you like their servant. Needless to say im very much enjoying my maternity leave :)
DeleteIt's a great mantra to live by and an important one to teach our children. I am amazed that it has been lost on some people but that is their loss, not ours. Great post!
ReplyDelete