Respect

The workplace, corporate or retail, is a unique cultural environment regardless of the job, the city or the type of work that is being conducted. People generally come to work in the morning with the intent to complete an honest day's work, to serve clients, to provide products or to improve the world in some way, large or small.

Based on my most recent employment, it occurs to me that one of those concepts that we have lost in the work and public environments is respect. I mourn the loss of respect in other areas when I have philosophic moments {the English language, parents, history, traditions, road courtesy); it goes on and on. But I fear that with new technology and the speed of life, we have lost something critical in terms of respecting one another in professional contexts.

Perhaps some of this has to do with our increasing difficulties with having direct and sincere conversations with one another. In previous observations I have discussed the vanishing art of letter-writing, something that has been superseded by email and social networking media. However, can it be that we have gotten so adept at the immediacy and implied need for brevity in an email that we have stopped talking to each other and delivering that form of respect?

Here's my example: Had a professional situation where a colleague spoke to a client with whom I had previously spoken. I neglected to check a screen before ending the conversation and the problem persisted. My insidious colleague, instead of asking me if I knew how to make the correction, sent a scathing email (copied to my manager), indicating that she had heroically solved the problem that I had mindlessly failed to correct. Perhaps the teacher in me prefers the inquiry that inquires if I were familiar with the solution, if not she would be pleased to show it to me. This message can be delivered by email if necessary, or in person as a more human approach.

Much of what we see around us constitutes disrespect by conscious action or unconscious omission. Ironically, I see more serious adherence to the etiquette (a derivative of respect) on a golf course than off the course. Farthest ball from the pin shoots first, don't walk on the green through someone's putt, don't talk in my back swing; all of these and others are aggressively observed. But leave the course and your golf cohorts are very likely to open a door and let it close in your face, attempt to cut you off in the parking lot or nearly remove your leg with a speeding golf cart.

Those who may want to examine the value of this concept of respect may well question '" What does this do to my bottom line? How does it improve my life? What advantage does it provide to my family or me?" In response, I would create a situation that is totally devoid of respect and hand it back to you in the effort to test its appeal.

You enter a bank and approach a teller who says, "Yeah, what do you want?"

You timidly hand the deposit slip and check that you want to deposit to your account and ask for a receipt. The teller looks at you scrupulously and responds, "What do you need a receipt for?"

Outraged and confused, you request to speak with the bank manager. He casually approaches you, toothpick dangling from his mouth, blue jeans and flannel shirt loosely arranged,moccasins with no socks, asking, "What can I do for you?"

You factually report the events that have just transpired with the teller and the bank manager's response is the following: "Yeah, that's the way it is. If you don't like our service, there are plenty of banks out there."

Never mind the fact that this bank is doomed to fail, an especially tragic consequence in view of the rampant bank failures in our current economy. But more importantly (perhaps) is the message to clients: Your business, your convenience and courtesy are no longer our concern. The paradigms for customer service and respect are obsolete.

Thankfully, this drastic situation in the retail segment is rare (in my experience) and easily corrected with information distributed to an appropriately responsible manager. I submit that in those cases where no apparent loss is to be suffered on the part of the recipient or distributor of disrespect, the need for respect appears to become questionable.

One may want to have dialogue regarding worthiness of respect, an activity that I feel to be superfluous to its disappearance. My background and philosophies suggest that everyone is worthy of being treated with respect until they prove themselves to be otherwise appointed. And so as I muse (endlessly) on how I would like to change the world, one tailgating driver at a time, please do not omit your respect toward me. My presence on the planet should make it a given.