30 Day Challenge: Day 12

30 Day Challenge: Day 12, What If...?

What if...Respect became a focus in our society, instead of popularity, status, or appearance?

Respect has always meant a great deal to me, when I am disrespected I tend to take it very personally and it often affects me for days or longer. I think this comes from the lack of respect in my adolescence. Between my parents divorce, lack of friends in school, and other circumstances, I never garnered much respect especially from my peers.

I was always taught by my parents that respect was earned and a person had to give it to earn it, therefore I always tried my hardest to respect everyone I knew. Granted I was a teenager, going though medical issues, with a fairly dysfunctional family (not a bad family just dysfunctional) so respect wasn't always on my mind but I definitely tried, specifically in situations where my demeanor, attitude, and qualifications were under scrutiny (i.e. tryouts, interviews, club meetings, work, etc.), That is just how I grew up.

So what does respect mean? To me respect is first treating oneself with dignity. Then treating others with that same dignity. By definition respect is a form of admiration, the ability for someone to see the good in others and to truly take it to heart, then in turn show them through attitude and actions. So a person must first admire themselves before they can share that admiration with others.  

It astounds me, especially working in customer service and hospitality how much people only care about themselves. Not only are they selfish but they also clearly do not respect themselves either, there is a big difference. For example, if a person has a selfish state of  mind and body when they walk into a four star hotel they tend to have a tendency to start complaining about any little thing that goes wrong, from the length of time it takes to check in, to complaining and changing rooms multiple times because they absolutely have to have a specific room set-up. They clearly do not respect themselves when during all of this their body odor is palpable throughout the entire open air atrium and others that are not servicing their needs have to step away before they lose their lunch. When a person cares so little for who they are and how they are viewed in a public situation, how can they then expect to be treated with any modicum of respect in return (we have to serve you and provide your request, but that doesn't mean we have respect you) and how can they live with being in such a slovenly state.

Now I personally find this very hard to deal with, but like I said I was taught, and am now teaching to my son, that in order to earn respect you must first give it. I start by first trying to treat everyone the same no matter their situation. I greet everyone in the same fashion, with a smile and kind words, I try to give everyone the same information while also making their experience personal. Most importantly though I try to adhere to our brand standard and think two steps ahead, this can make all the difference.

I have come to realize that even my coworkers have trouble treating everyone with the same respect. There are definitely customers that come in regularly and have their quirks that present certain challenges, but we are a four star hotel that is why people come to us, they expect that their quirks will be taken care of.

So far I have been able to handle some of these "trouble customers" without issue, to some of my co-workers surprise I might add. I think that being in customer service has really taught me about how to treat people the right way, it has allowed me to watch, learn, and ultimately grow from my interactions with people on a daily basis.