One night at dinner, I walk up to the entrée area in the Market, and politely ask for a baked potato. The server exclaims that I am the first person to say please all evening, that she is very grateful, and to tell my parents thank you. I laughed to myself, having also worked in food service, because I know exactly how she feels.
When a person is working in a job that centers on service, respect comes in small doses. I call it Name-Tag Syndrome. Whether it is food or retail, many people seem to see a name-tag and immediately deduce that the wearer is somehow worth less than they are.
To me, a food-service worker or a book clerk is a messenger, and everyone needs to remember the phrase “Don’t shoot the messenger.” I work at Books-A-Million now, and God forbid that we are out of a book that a customer wants. It might as well be that we personally blew up the truck that the book was supposed to be on and sabotaged the delivery just to make them dissatisfied.
The workers in the Market and the campus bookstore have a lot going on. Many of them are students, just like most of us, working to pay for school. This is no excuse not to provide decent service, but if you did not get enough butter on your potato, do not make it out to be like they slapped your mother.
I have also witnessed blatant disrespect of teachers. If you think about it, teachers are serving us too. They are serving us their knowledge in order to benefit our futures. We are paying them for this service. That does not make them our servants.
It is not their responsibility to serve you an A; it is your responsibility to earn it. Staying up late and skipping class, then being late on a paper is irresponsible on your part. Failing that paper and then trashing the teacher on Ratemyprofessors.com is bordering on pathetic. I know that sometimes teachers do pick favorites, but that should encourage you to prove them wrong instead of proving them right.
I know people who walk into Taco Bell and want no lettuce, two ounces of sour cream and no onion. I also know the employees who hate them, yet conform to their requests. That is okay, we want what we pay for and we should get that. Though, no one needs to jump a counter and request a manager when someone accidentally put lettuce on your taco unless you are allergic. Anger often makes people want to spit in your food. Politeness will likely get you extra of what you want.
There are rude employees that may be jaded by unkind customers, but there are also select employees with permanently bad attitudes. A certain place on campus is infamous for that, and no matter how many times I say please and thank you, I still get ignored. Treat others like you want to be treated.
One surprising area that deserves a bit more respect is Financial Aid. They work day in and day out to straighten out our financial needs as students. It is a very stressful environment, and they are deservedly strung out by the workload that they do.
I have been known to get frustrated with that office, and I am sure I am not the only one. I have to take the time to think about how much they do, and how frustrating their job must be. If they took the time to listen to everyone’s story, how emotionally taxing would it be to know that they simply cannot help everyone?
In every aspect of life, people are serving each other. Take the time to realize that everyone has a story, and people are people with a name-tag or not. Treat others with respect, just as you would want to be respected, or even how you would want members of your family to be treated. This will affect your life and others, and maybe society could be less judgmental. Hey, just maybe, tips would even get better.
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