Today marks the commencement of my one year (to the day) at Dinovite, and my subsequent departure.
I walk away with every bit of knowledge a person would ever need to know about pet nutrition, as well as how corn ruins lives, and that Omega 3 fatty acids could potentially save the world.
Dear children, whether you are calling customer service and you speak with a man in India with broken English and claims his name is Mark, be kind. His name is probably not Mark, and he is doing his best from a continent away. When there is an error in your bank account, and you speak with a representative from the bank, remember they didn’t do anything to personally jack up your checking.
The most important thing I can impart to everyone is to make freaking eye contact with the people that serve you. They are people, and they matter. Now, this is not to say you must ask them to go grab their billfold to show you pictures of their grandchildren whilst the other kind employee is bagging your groceries and there is a mile long line of people behind you, but care about them! Ask how their day is going. Smile at them. Pretend like you are in customer service (this will be easy to do joyfully if you don’t actually work in customer service. Your joy will immediately spout out of every chamber of your heart in gratitude that you do not, in fact, work in customer service).
I understand. Sometimes, we all just have a bad day. This happens. It should not happen that your own bad day must wreak havoc on everyone else’s day. You are not the only person in the world.
The drive thru at Starbucks is not the place to catch up on your correspondence. Make eye contact with your barista, and acknowledge their presence as a human being. You are not sticking it to the Man by ignoring the real man (or woman, obviously). Yes, you are tired I am sure. I understand, you might not be a morning person, but please remember your barista started brewing coffee five hours before you rose from your bed. They probably cried when the alarm went off. The lining in their stomachs have probably been eaten away from the damaging acidic content in the unhealthy amounts of coffee they had to drink in order to smile at you and hand you your latte.
If your phone call is important, there are parking spaces to pull into. Your lack of compassion may potentially lead to your barista having vivid thoughts of tossing your hot beverage into your car and walking away.
Today is International Quit Being a Butthead Day. Let it continue forever. Now, go notice people.
I wish I could tell all the drunk old men that call Twin Spires to deposit money in their wagering accounts that they should read this blog.
I would also tell them, as kindly as possible, that wagering $500 at a time on horses across the world isn’t really the best use of their money. Maybe some of it should go to fund arts organizations or into cancer research. Whichever they prefer.
Write a book already! I would pre-buy it on Amazon.
I totally agree with your post. Thank you for your parting knowledge.
Yes, yes, Fran.
Spoken like a true Ex-Barista.
We are few, but mighty. And wise, as it turns out.