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What is WITH people?

Sparky2

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I worked a wedding yesterday, and it was a harried affair.
In-laws and outlaws from out of town, people scampering everywhere.
We were in a large hotel attached to the international airport, and things were hopping.

To get to the wedding, you had to walk past a greeter, thru the bar/pub area, and into a carpeted hallway where the wedding ballroom and food serving foyer were.

The thing is, you see, the floor in and around the tables in the bar was sticky.
(Somebody had spilled a Coke or something the previous evening, apparently, and it hadn't been mopped up correctly.)
The floor looked okay, but it was very sticky, for the entire length of the bar floor.

I got things organized for the nuptials, shook hands, kissed babies, and got everything ready for the wedding service.
*schrrch* *schrrch* *schrrch* went everybody's shoes as they came and went, as we all waited for the bride and her hens to come down and get things started.

The food servers, bartender, and the manager/greeter-girl all traversed the sticky floor as they went hither and yon.
*schrrch* *schrrch* *schrrch* went their shoes as they walked thru, getting the ancillary bar set up.
None of them seemed to mind the disturbingly-sticky floor.

A half hour before the wedding was supposed to start, I flagged down the manager/greeter girl.

"Hello ma'am, I hate to bother you, but this floor here where the bride and her maidens will soon be walking is quite sticky. Can you call housekeeping and ask somebody to come mop it up real good?"

"Oh, uh, I, uh, hadn't noticed."

"Yeah, look, this is a very special day for the bride and her family. People should remember the service, the tasteful decorations, and the beautiful spread of food that you guys have prepared for the day. What they SHOULDN'T remember is a horrible sticky floor, and how the hosting hotel didn't care enough to get all the details right."

"Okay, I'll go get one of the kitchen boys to come mop that right now."

"Thank you."

Sure enough, one of the lads from the back came out and squared the floor away, and the wedding went on without a hitch.


To the original question.
What is with people?

I have noticed more and more in recent years that self-awareness, company pride, good customer service, and neatness have become obsolete concepts.

Fast food workers walking thru a messy dining area and not pausing to pick things up.
Strip mall parking lots full of litter and debris.
Indifferent store clerks rolling their eyes whenever you ask them to exert a little effort for you.

Is it just me, or is this becoming a universal thing?
:( :shock: :doh

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Ah, the good ole days!


hahaha
 
Fast food workers walking thru a messy dining area and not pausing to pick things up.
Strip mall parking lots full of litter and debris.

I'm usually pretty forgiving of that kind of stuff.

Because at the end of the day everyone makes mistakes. It's what makes us human.

But you reminded me of this little funny video:

 
no it's not just you

it's universal and irritating as hell: the :shrug: it isn't my job attitude is prevalent

however once pointed out, they can seem to accomplish the impossible, which really is only the possible but until recently ignored
 
Since I totally rely on repeat (handyman) business and word of mouth referrals, I always fix more than I was tasked to do. Not only do I grow my business that way but I often get tips added to my billed amount. That incentive may not apply to those that work for a boss or company that really does not ever hear of their good work habits. Did you bother to thank the mopper, tip them or leave their name on a comment card? Often it is left to the customer to help ensure that good service is rewarded.
 
Nope, you are not alone, Sparky. I see it frequently.
 
To the original question.
What is with people?

I have noticed more and more in recent years that self-awareness,
baseball is the culprit. once the national past-time, when was the last time you saw kids playing a baseball game that was not organized, just to play the game. for me, the answer would be FOUR decades [and Elvis went to the field to play ball with those young kids, but that is another story]
baseball is all about situational awareness. before a pitch is thrown a good baseball player will know every permutation for any hit ball and how he will respond to it. it becomes ingrained. and significantly, that instinct to anticipate situations and responses becomes second nature
basketball, football, soccer, lacrosse, etc are games where the player must adapt to a ever changing situation, so situational analysis is not part and parcel of those games. and since few play baseball/fastpitch any more, the need for situational awareness has waned. use it or lose it, and we lost it

... company pride,
really? that once stemmed from loyalty to the company that was also loyal to you. the organization that promised you a livable wage and a defined retirement for caring about the work of the employer. other than the military, that may as well be a unicorn today. i will ask you, why should any employee have any company pride; what about working for that company makes them proud?

... good customer service,
this goes hand-in-hand with company pride. why should the employee go out of their way to exhibit good customer service when the company displays no employee loyalty. no, in today's world, work is nothing more than an exchange of time for money. if the company wants to show good customer service, they will have to pay for it, by paying their employees to provide it. otherwise, they get the run of the mill employee, who is going to do as little as possible for as much as they can make per hour. that has become today's business paradigm. because employees are fungible

... and neatness have become obsolete concepts.
when i went to school, boys could not wear jeans and girls could not wear slacks
during that era, one dressed in coat and tie to fly a commercial airplane
and moms were likely at home, as women often did not work; they had time to iron clothes during the day. cook supper, too, because going out to eat was a very rare experience [yea, this was before mcdonalds]
in the mill village where my folks grew up, the men of the church would as often attend services in their overalls and jeans as a white shirt and tie. but they would be clean
thru the week, the kids tended to be dirty. that came from playing outside - learning situational awareness playing baseball in the field, you know. if you were lucky enough to own an air conditioner it was likely a window unit. it was often more comfortable being outside. as a kid, that's where all your friends were
yes, we are more casual today. thank goodness. coat and ties have begun to go out of fashion. perma press was developed because women were in the workplace and had no time to iron, so the clothes we wear today have less of a crease than they once did after being ironed
but are we less neat today than in yesteryear? not by my recollection. yards were often strewn with disposed of autos and appliances. people threw trash out of their car windows. bottles had no redeemable value, and they were discarded by the roadside, often in shards. Lady Bird Johnson began a campaign to clean up America and effectively used an Indian [eastern european, actually, but he looked the part] with tears in his eyes to plead for us to end the litter. governments began legislating clean environments and litter laws, and enforcing them, too
by my recollection, today's America is MUCH neater than the one i experienced as a kid

Fast food workers walking thru a messy dining area and not pausing to pick things up.
Strip mall parking lots full of litter and debris.
Indifferent store clerks rolling their eyes whenever you ask them to exert a little effort for you.
the business owners fired middle management that looked after such things. it was no longer important to them to have such employees who looked after the small, seemingly insignificant matters. they could pocket what had been management wages as today's profits. and hope the employees would pick up the slack. like that was gonna happen

Is it just me, or is this becoming a universal thing?
sometimes the good old days were not so good. just old
 
I worked a wedding yesterday, and it was a harried affair.
In-laws and outlaws from out of town, people scampering everywhere.
We were in a large hotel attached to the international airport, and things were hopping.

To get to the wedding, you had to walk past a greeter, thru the bar/pub area, and into a carpeted hallway where the wedding ballroom and food serving foyer were.

The thing is, you see, the floor in and around the tables in the bar was sticky.
(Somebody had spilled a Coke or something the previous evening, apparently, and it hadn't been mopped up correctly.)
The floor looked okay, but it was very sticky, for the entire length of the bar floor.

I got things organized for the nuptials, shook hands, kissed babies, and got everything ready for the wedding service.
*schrrch* *schrrch* *schrrch* went everybody's shoes as they came and went, as we all waited for the bride and her hens to come down and get things started.

The food servers, bartender, and the manager/greeter-girl all traversed the sticky floor as they went hither and yon.
*schrrch* *schrrch* *schrrch* went their shoes as they walked thru, getting the ancillary bar set up.
None of them seemed to mind the disturbingly-sticky floor.

A half hour before the wedding was supposed to start, I flagged down the manager/greeter girl.

"Hello ma'am, I hate to bother you, but this floor here where the bride and her maidens will soon be walking is quite sticky. Can you call housekeeping and ask somebody to come mop it up real good?"

"Oh, uh, I, uh, hadn't noticed."

"Yeah, look, this is a very special day for the bride and her family. People should remember the service, the tasteful decorations, and the beautiful spread of food that you guys have prepared for the day. What they SHOULDN'T remember is a horrible sticky floor, and how the hosting hotel didn't care enough to get all the details right."

"Okay, I'll go get one of the kitchen boys to come mop that right now."

"Thank you."

Sure enough, one of the lads from the back came out and squared the floor away, and the wedding went on without a hitch.


To the original question.
What is with people?

I have noticed more and more in recent years that self-awareness, company pride, good customer service, and neatness have become obsolete concepts.

Fast food workers walking thru a messy dining area and not pausing to pick things up.
Strip mall parking lots full of litter and debris.
Indifferent store clerks rolling their eyes whenever you ask them to exert a little effort for you.

Is it just me, or is this becoming a universal thing?
:( :shock: :doh

View attachment 67203661

What it is, is they don't care if you don't come back. It's been going on for years now and is a pet peeve of mine.
 
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