I have gone for quite some time without a post, not just
because of being a bit overwhelmed where I work, but because I am watching an
interesting societal phenomenon unfold, and I wanted to see it play out further
before commenting. Now it’s time.
I am beginning this with blatant self promotion. Go back and
read all of the posts on this site, because human insecurity and need for
relevance are showing themselves at levels many in the business of serving
people would agree is alarmingly high. It is easy to quickly attribute it to
the Covid outbreak, but I believe it to be more than that. I think the
combination of the epidemic, staying at home consuming media at record rates,
racial tensions, protests, politics, and more have brought out anger and insecurity
that was already there, and current events were simply a signifigant enough
catalyst to bring it to the surface.
So now what? It now becomes more important than ever, despite
it being more difficult, to remind ourselves of what humans need, even the ones
who can become irrational about needing it. They are often the ones who don’t
now what they need, which is why we need to breathe, and give it to them. I
hope that made sense. I will however,
reiterate that there will be a time, and a customer or guest that simply cannot
be rationalized with, and must be dealt with accordingly. I don’t want to imply
that you must tolerate everyone because “they are human”. But all of us on the
front line need to remember it.
I work at a place that sees 1000-2000 guests a day, from
everywhere in the world. Every day is not only a giant sociological experiment,
it is a way to see how similar people can actually be in their ego, concerns,
insecurities, and such. It is also a place to learn how to deal with them. So
far this summer, however, it is often difficult to not just tell a guest what
you are really thinking. I have to briefly meditate multiple times a day now,
just to get through the situations I am required to resolve between humans. But
that’s ok. That is what I am paid to do.
I also have to remind myself that we are often one of the
first getaways for a family that has been stuck in a house together for three
months. That in itself presents challenges.
All of us “front liners” have a challenging time ahead of
us. I hear a lot about the financial impact of this pandemic we are experiencing,
but not much about the emotional toll it is taking on all of us. To all of you
out there dealing with humans every day, my hat is off to you. Keep up the good work, and please share some
of your stories with me. I would love to hear how you are dealing with
humans. My email is
[email protected].
