Musings

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Respect

My grandson, Ryan, recently quit his job as a bagger at Engles because the customers did not give him respect. He cited the story of one customer who, after Ryan had bagged all his groceries, put them into a very full cart and hesitated about putting one more bag of a single jar of pickles and searching for a spot to do it, the man suddenly grabbed the bag from his hand and stated, "give me that, you don't know what the hell you are doing" and walked out. The lack of respect was too much for Ryan, even though he needed the job. Where does this "respect" idea come from? We hear of blacks that shoot one another because someone disrespected them. Why is that? My upbringing on respect was to respect your elders which was accomplished by standing in order for the elderly to sit. To say, "Yes sir or Yes ma'am" to inquiries from elders. To shake hands when meeting someone. Take a hat off when in the presence of a woman. To seek a chair for an older person and make them comfortable. I have observed Ryan come into the house and leave his cap on. He sought the large easy chair to sit in and left his grandmother standing. While eating, he does not look around to see if his table-mates need anything, he instead concentrates on his own food. What is wrong with this picture?

7 Comments:

  • Sounds like he DOESN'T know what the hell he is doing ! :-)

    By Blogger Tim B., at 8:08 PM  

  • He must not "need" the job. Someone must be supporting him and making his decision OK.

    We were just discussing the hierarchy of chairs the other day. I think I was saying how happy I was to be climbing up the chair food chain. All of the neice and nephew level people (they are hardly kids anymore) jump up when I come into a room. One of the few perks to getting older. Of course, there is a whole domino effect when mom comes into the room. I would get up so she could sit in my chair, Melody would get up so that I could sit in her chair, and then Megan would get up so Melody (same level, but pregnant) could sit in her chair.

    By Blogger EZ Travel, at 11:40 AM  

  • Unfortunately, respect is only one of the things they consider their birth rights.
    Reciprocities, I find, are never even given a thought.
    Then you have to think about who their teachers were, and then who tought the teachers……

    OMG, that was us.

    We have met the enemy, and he is us…….pogo

    By Blogger marty, at 2:36 PM  

  • I forgot to add...

    "Hmmm, quitting his job over something like that...sounds like the apple didn't fall far from the tree."

    By Blogger Tim B., at 7:03 AM  

  • Erica, how did all of you learn that? According to your Father he did not do it.

    By Blogger Marcel, at 7:48 AM  

  • You've met my mom, right? Nice lady.

    By Blogger EZ Travel, at 12:01 PM  

  • One correction, the store's name is Ingles, with an I.

    As having worked at this store off and on for the last three and a half years (the off time being while at college), I know what is meant by a "lack of respect" from the customers. The most significant of these encounters was when a customer threw his ID at me when I asked to see it. I was merely following store policy regarding check-writing, but he figured he was a frequent customer who shouldn't be ID'd (by the way, no one I knew had ever seen him before).

    There are other instances such as these, but for the most part the customers are respectful and friendly. I think the attitude rubs off sometimes, since the help at these stores can sometimes forget who makes their paychecks each week. I know for a fact that most of the teenagers at Ingles don't care about the customers at all, and would rather carry on a conversation with each other than do their job.

    There's my two cents!

    By Blogger Sean M., at 11:24 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home