Everyone Should Work With the Public

I firmly believe the world would go around more pleasantly if everyone, sometime in their lives, was required to work with the general public. The earlier the better, so I am all for making it a requirement for high school graduation. The student should be graded and receive academic credits for their endeavor, rather like the old days of DCT and CBE, with the biggest difference being that the course (the job) be mandatory instead of elective. Any job where a student had to deal directly with Mr. John or Ms. Jane Q. Public would qualify for credit. A one semester class should be enough to enlighten the student in many ways. They could work in stores, restaurants, libraries, gas stations, banks, offices, answering telephones, movie theatres - the possibilities are nearly endless - they would just have to deal with the likes of you and I, and our neighbors, our relatives, our bosses - you get the picture.

As you have most likely guessed, I do work with the general public and have done so for more years than I care to recall. I happen to work in retail and have since I was a high school student in DCT. I was doing it for the spending money and because I thought it would be an easy good grade. Well, I did make decent spending money and I did get a good grade, but it wasn't always easy.

Mostly I have enjoyed it. Over the years I have been a ten hour a week part-timer and a 60+ hour a week manager and most everything in between (currently I am an in between). What really makes or breaks the job is the behavior of people, the good and the bad. An appreciative, considerate, happy customer can make your day. A rude, nasty, unreasonable person can surely put a damper on it.

My thought is that if most people had ever been stuck in a front line position (such as the cashier in a fast food restaurant, a waiter, a salesclerk, a receptionist, etc.) they would have learned how little control that person has over an unfortunate situation and would be more considerate and tolerant in their dealings with these employees. Front line, minimum wage employees frequently take horrid abuse from customers through no fault of their own. These people did not make the understaffed schedule, they did not personally under order the amount of merchandise available, they didn't have any input on deciding prices, they didn't decide how many servings of the daily special were prepared, or when sales start and stop. They didn't decide the store hours, what days holidays are observed, or when something was being shipped,yet these are the people who are frequently insulted, screamed at, threatened, and occasionally assaulted when things don't go smoothly. ( Yes, I realize that there are rude salespeople, snotty waiters, and employees that are just plain slow and lazy, but I truly believe they are in the minority.)

During my career I have had all of the above experiences, some numerous times. The customers with the most outrageous behaviors usually had the most ridiculous reasons for coming unglued. Just common sense would tell you that belittling someone and calling them names doesn't tend to make them want to do more for you. Evidentally some people have never heard the old adage about catching more flies with honey than with vinegar. It would seem that some people even get a preverse pleasure out of such cruelties as bringing a waitress to tears.

I contend, however, that if most of us have at one time in our lives been in one of those front line jobs and have felt what it is like to be treated unreasonably, then we wouldn't go on to do it to others. If this is true, it would make shopping, dIning out, renting a car, buying movie ticket and such a more pleasant experience all the way around. Who doesn't want to have a less stressful day? Life is too short to waste it on temper tantrums.and high blood pressure. It also takes less energy to just be nice, to treat others as we would like to be treated. Didn't we all hear "do unto others" as we grew up? It's the right thing to do.

I have great tolerance and empathy for employees who are doing their best in a bad situation. I take the time to thank those who have gone the extra mile for me and try to make it a point of letting their superiors know what a good job they did and how pleased I was. (Managers are unfortunately used to hearing complaints - compliments pleasantly surprise them.) I also can readily identify the employee who doesn't measure up, but insulting them or threatening them doesn't help. It is usually more effective to politely let their superiors know exactly why you were disappointed with your experience at their place of business and let them handle the situation.

Working with the public is truly an education unto itself. You can learn quite a lot just dealing with people and most of it can be used in day to day life anywhere. Among the life skills I learned are patience, tolerance, attention to detail, empathy, tact, how to negotiate, multi-tasking, savvy shopping, and how to fold clothing, I also learned that stores can be a great source of dates when you are single and good for an ego boost now and then when you are not.