A civilized morning
Anytime we, as a family, were doing something like reading by the fire or eating a meal at a table with a tablecloth, my father would say, "this is just too civilized." I woke up this beautiful Saturday morning at 6:45. That is pretty early for a Saturday but I knew I wouldn't get back to sleep - in fact, I didn't want to go back to sleep. I am looking for that "civilized" morning.Trav is still sleeping so I am downstairs with my hot apple cider and my computer. I've got the iTunes playing and I've got the newspaper in hand. Ahhh...the sweet life!
Trav brought yesterday's USA Today home and shared an article about the "Waiter Rule". The byline reads "rudeness to service workers reveals a lot about character." I think this is so true! I have been thinking about this because we have been in the process of hiring for 4 Administrator-level positions. I have often asked the receptionists what they think, because you can certainly gain a valuable perspective from someone who may be seen in a subordinate role. I remember fairly recently when I told our Director that someone was rude to the receptionist, he said, "well that does it for me", indicating that the decision was easily made to rule that individual out of the running.
The article also states that this whole response to service workers is a result of how people were raised. I like what Steve Odland of Office Depot said. "People with situational values have situational ethics, and those are people to be avoided."
I guess that is all the profundity from me this morning. I hope you all enjoy your Saturday - make it a civilized one.
posted by collette at 6:09 AM
6 Comments:
My brother, a BYU student, had to write a paper last semester. The assignment was to go out and observe people. They had to identify something particular that they wanted to watch. Since he was in retail, he decided to watch men and women at the mall. He went to sit in the food court to see how man men vs. women thanked the chashier when the transaction was complete. Of the 80 people her observed (40 men and 40 women) almost all of the men said thanks, and almost none of the women. Do you think it also has something to do with the gender of the customer, or the gender of the service provider? I agree, people can be so rude. How can they not see it?
What a cool post Collette. I'm comforted to find out I don't have situational ethics. I'm consistently nice to service people, most likely overly nice. I always feel for them and can imagine how many other people weren't nice, or didn't tip well, or who complicated things and treated them poorly, so I always try to even things out the other way for them. That article sounds interesting.
I love it that you're having a civilized morning and enjoying some peaceful time alone.
I don't think it would be possible to have a civilized morning around here! We slept in obliviously late because of the clouds and then ran to get ready for the Ward Easter Egg Hunt, get baths, run to the grocery and get ready for the Family Easter dinner and hunt. Now we're home, everyone is tired and fighting, hungry again and I have company coming- but don't worry, they won't come until 9:00pm so I can put my kids to bed... sorry to vent. I am happy that you had a civilized morning!
Good food for thought. I always try to be polite to people in service positions. I think it would be hard to be helping people all day when so many people don't bother to even say thank you, so I try to do my part. I would hope that I don't have situational values or ethics! Great idea asking your receptionists for their input.
Hi, I'm exploring the blog world and saw that we have a favorite book in common (My Grandfather's Blessings). This post of yours says to me that you "walk the talk" and are really a blessing in this world.
Nice to meet you!
All the best,
Laya
Welcome to my blog world Laya! I do love that book and refer to it often.
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