Do you ever find yourself in a rush when suddenly somebody manages to get in the way and hold you up?
How do you react? Do you start sweating? Taking deep breaths? Yelling and cursing at the person? Do you hold yourself back and respond kindly?
I feel the need to shout out to all the wonderful people that service humanity and are faced daily with all sorts of disrespect as they do their job.
I just had the pleasure of speaking to a nurse at a doctor’s office as she swabbed my daughter’s throat for strep on an extremely busy day. She seemed upset and almost angry. I asked her how her day was and if it was hard when there were so many people that came in sick at one time.
Her response made me cringe.
She said that she prays every single morning before she steps into work knowing that she will face another day of nasty comments, rude people, rushed people, angry people.
Where is our respect, people?
I felt horrible that this women, who gives her day to help our children has to be so under appreciated. Was she the most friendly individual that I had ever met? Probably not but who knows. Was she the quickest worker? Not exactly and every moment did mean I was late for work. But you know what? I wasn’t rude. I wasn’t cursing her. I asked her genuinely how she was doing because I saw a soul that deserved my basic respect, even if I felt hurried and delayed.
I apologized to her that there are some people that forget to treat others with respect because they are so en-wrapped in their own life.
And I walked out of there with a mission to change the world.
I know I can’t change the world. But I can share my thoughts and feelings about what I think is right and wrong and let the world make their own decisions on how they want to deal with it.
Respect, my friends. Period.
Devorah Wahl, Executive Manager at Parnassah Network & JBizExpo.
I need to disagree I know someone who works in town and she started telling me about all these nasty people that raise their voice and are demanding – I was very taken a back and horrified by what she said so I asked her how many people that u see act like this and she said maybe 1 in every hundred most people in this town are very nice!!!
Finally, a genuine letter from a genuine person that actually had courage to sign off with their name unlike the other anonymous people who wide behind their screen.
I agree. I probably encountered the same nurse last week at the docs office. All I did was say, “how u doin today?” She answered, “u know, ur the first person to ask me that question” she said I was a breath of fresh air in a stuffy office. The key is to treat others the way you would want to be treated.
To Barack Obama,
Funny how you use a pseudonym for your your comment!
Thank you BARACK for not hiding behind the screen & for signing off with your real name
I agree with anon the most people are nice. However us humans one nasty person can ruin your whole day, and we must all be cognizant of that.
my mother in law worked in a store in town for over 10 yrs. she finally had enough of the way people treated her and quit. Many people in this town only think about themselves and are very rude and not nice to the workers of the stores. I really wonder would people act this way if they went to the mall or any other store out of Lakewood. I know that most stores out of here would not stand for it. Maybe its time for people to wake up and treat workers and other people the way they would want to
be treated themselves.
assuming I know exactly which nurse you are referring to. We are “friends” (to the degree, she’ll see me at a red light and honk to wave…) I treat her very nicely, as especially with these kind of people, will get you much further with butter sweetness than yelling/complaining. but honestly, she’s in the wrong place to work! And suffice it to say, I deleted the rest of what I wrote about her before posting it. Yes, every person deserves self respect. and no one should be nasty, and I am NOT agreeing with those who are nasty to her. But she dug, and continues to dig, her own pit. She has a choice to be nasty or not, but if you are nasty to others, you cannot expect “love from the community” in return for such behavior.
I find that most irritable workers are simply overworked. It’s the money hungry management that is to blame. I’ve never met a nasty employee in a quiet store. Yet nurses, social service employees, pharmacy workers etc. are often overworked and are therefore quite irritable. Unfortunately, the people who come to ask for services aren’t aware that they are overworked and are therefore not sensitive enough.
Welcome to the new generation of instant gratification and self-centeredness where everything is ME ME AND ONLY ME
Sad we have stooped so low
This is multifaceted issue with no quick fix. We need to do our best. Hashem will do the rest.
Any person who is in a rush, is angry or disrespectful of others even in a minor way has no faith in God. No excuses, no argument. Period.
While I agree 100% with this writer I must mention that not everyone is capable of working in a fast paced , often overcrowded environment! with obviously people that don’t feel well or people dealing with children that aren’t feeling well!!
Most people I see around me behave nicely! maybe it’s time to change job???
Anyone who commented that it’s about work environment, pay, or it’s just a few people, is firstly dead wrong, and secondly, deflecting from having to reflect on their own actions to see if they’re part of the problem. I’ve been in customer service for over 25 years in Lakewood and serviced hundreds of thousands of people over that time, and I’ll tell you that while it’s not everyone, there’s too big a percentage of people to ignore that range anywhere from being in a rush and being irritating, to being spoiled and taking advantage of the system, to being plain rude and demeaning towards the people who spend their entire lives helping you. Yes, we don’t get paid a whole lot, and yes, it’s hard to service everyone, but those grievances are absolutely nonexistent compared to the way we’re treated by people tens of times a day, and it’s time for Lakewood to have a moment of self reflection. Thanks to the author of this article for having the wherewithal to see past her Daled Amos and to write about it.
Very very sad all though I do agree most people are nice I must say that I believe it all boils down to the non stop building in this town which causes nonstop traffic making everyone restless and always in a rush because it took them 30 minutes to get there and 30 minutes to get to the next destination not their right but can we blame these people ??? Let’s keep building!!!
Whether or not it’s a majority, whether or not it’s a quick fix: IMHO, not the point at all. Treat everyone with respect. Make a kiddush hashem. The impression you leave others with will outlast the inconvenience of being late to work, or any other engagement by a long shot.