Customer Service

customer service isn’t what it used to be.

on two different occasions this week i’ve had the sad misfortune of witnessing the barista at our local starbucks shoot down my 5 year old and my 7 year old nephews.

both times i lingered in the background while they each stood patiently in line to order a glass of water.

just a glass of water.

and mind you, both times were days where only minutes before i had spent more than a dollar at that starbucks.

now you could just cynically remind me that you get what you pay for, and that all i should expect from starbucks is anything but child friendly treatment. or you could remind me that kids shouldn’t be at coffee shops late at night anyway….but work with me here.

imagine for a moment you’re the barista. you’re busy, but you’re just serving coffee after all. it’s not like you’re prepping for brain surgery. in the middle of a chaotic evening of making lattes and cappuccinos in comes in a cute 5 y/o kid who just asks you for a measly cup of water.

you have three options: you could kindly tell him to wait a couple of minutes and that you would help him as soon as you got a few seconds of peace, or you could just ignore him, or you could actually just smile and get him that darned glass of water.

and feel pretty good about yourself and your job while you’re at it.

you are, after all, not just a barista, but the key to the kid’s cultural and societal development. you could be in fact contributing towards the future of our country by exemplifying to that kid that a grown man can multi task, and enjoy his work at the same time.

no, customer service is not what it used to be.

powerful living refuses to settle for mediocrity. it refuses to do what everyone else is doing. it refuses to focus on the task at the expense of seeing people.

don’t just fulfill your duty for the sake of getting the job done.  rather, infuse your duty with love, and it will turn into a great delight.

and keep in mind that every work is holy when done in the presence of God.

who are you working for today?

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