I wonder if the "manager" had one day worn that food-worker's uniform and stood in the front of the store taking orders and filling them in rapid fire order? I wonder if her "attitude" was always so disrespectful? I wonder if she every considers how her words impact others? I wonder if she thinks about how her words might build anger in her employees?
As I enjoyed my coffee, I had plenty of time to think about this one small but very SAD interaction and the many, many other sad interactions between people with different beliefs and different backgrounds and how those put-downs might be interpreted and might contribute to seeds of hate. I thought about people in management, leadership, authority, power, and control (including teachers and administrators) whose words and actions might contribute to anger that might fester or that might even boil over into hate sometimes. I thought about all the sadness and the violence that has filled the news lately. I thought about how I could try to be a little kinder to everyone I meet along this path of life. I wondered if we need to all take a page from:
Arethra Franklin and give each other a little RESPECT?
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Find out what it means to me
9 comments:
In all industries, power goes to people's heads. It's terrible to see the way some managers talk to their employees. Would they want to be spoken to / admonished like that in front of others? Absolutely not.
Funny that you bring this up, Anita. I took the grand-girls to a McDonald's a few weeks ago & saw a similar thing happening. This young woman was running everything, scurrying from the window to the counter, & this time I wondered if anyone noticed how awesome she was managing? I hope they did, tried to give her some encouraging words. How awful for that manager to use such words in public. She needs some lessons in kindness & management, & her worker needs the break!
I am not sure if I have been able to just keep on working, but then, maybe this was not the first time. In my area, fast food places are having a hard time getting employees! I wonder if further management training could be in order?
Both my children are working at different stores of a well-known coffee shop and it is amazing the difference in their experiences. My works very hard but has supportive supervisors, His work has been recognized publicly (Partner of the Quarter, etc.). My daughter has gotten nothing but criticism from her manager. The store is poorly run and she is exhausted and discouraged. The attitude of the person in charge makes such a huge difference.
My heart feels for that employee.
And I wonder what has caused that supervisor to be harsh.
Your post is an important reminder that we need to be so careful with our words and actions.
Your last lines reminded me of the quote...
"Be kind; everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."
It's so unsettling to see such disrespect. We need to be so much kinder to each other.
It is so sad to see that kind of disrespect. I think that some of the hardest workers are servers in restaurants and those in fast food....and for very little money. I don't understand that. And you are right....we all need to be kinder and show respect in working with others...especially young children.
I see this happening more and more...it's a sad statement about our country and the tone of discourse these days.
Our words are so powerful. This makes me think of how being kind is better than being right. We think of this in classrooms, but really it is a mantra for life.
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