Bad For Business

  Have we become complacent as Americans? Do we except bad service and behavior from each other so much that it trickles right down to those who serves us in our doctors offices and goes as far up as our politicians. I think we have. Yes, I most certain we have. It is either that or we just got tired of all the arguing, so like little children we gave up and are given in. I could give a million working examples of how this problem affects us, but I am only going to give you three today. These three working scenarios have - I'm certain of it - been experienced by all who read this column today. However, each one of us who have different personalities, so how we handled the situations may have been completely different.
  I was speaking to an elderly woman in a doctors office who told me how she was mocked and laughed at by a pair of nurses during the time her husband was dying. Apparently, she was trying to get a much needed appointment for him, and explained her situation to them. They acted as if they didn't believe her. She walked away feeling like she had been called a liar, was embarrassed, and unfortunately never got the chance to take her husband to the appointment because he passed away shortly after that encounter. She said she never went back there again and almost sent them a copy of the death certificate just to make them feel as bad as they made her feel.
  Another great example of "bad business" is one I personally experienced. I had an appointment with the eye doctor. Now, if you are late they expect you to reschedule but if they are the ones are late they expect you to sit down and be quite and not complain. We have all been there once or twice. Well as I sat there at the Williamson Eye Institute in Lafayette Indiana not only did I find out they gave me the wrong time to be there they had me waiting over 45 minutes past my scheduled appointment time. When I confronted the receptionist about it, and of course told her they would not tolerate it if I was that late to my appointment, she assured me I was third in line to go in. Five patients later my name was still not called and in order to make it to my next appointment I was forced to reschedule without an apology. Instead she attempted to argue with me, which I quickly defused.
  My last example of bad business is the people who represent us; Politicians. Pretty broad...I know, but they all have one main thing in common - to serve the communities they represent to the best of their ability. NOT themselves but the cities and states or districts they preside over. Not who can contribute the most into their re-election campaigns, but all who live within their cities and states. So why is it that every time we are voting in "change" all we get is the same old "bad business" as usual? Look at all these political sex scandals. The latest one being Anthony Wiener. Using our tax paying dollars to show nude or half naked pictures of himself online attempting to find women. If you think for a minute that wasn't our money he was using ask yourself this: Who pays his salary? We do!!!
  Let us look beyond Mr. Wiener. All of those in public office seem to have a price tag on them now a days. Its only those who truly fall out of the "club" like John Edwards that get prosecuted or persecuted for it. Time off with pay, or they may resign and go work for a large corporation for a couple of years then resurface into politics later. Where is the true accountability These are the people who hold our financial, legal, and sometimes emotional fates in their hands. They control the money. They write the laws and enforce them. This can even make or break someone emotionally or physically depending on what your status in the world today is.
  Face it there are three sets of rules for everyone. A set for the millionaires, one for the middle class, and one for those who don't have two nickles to rub together. Maybe it will always be this way. Maybe as a society we need it to be this way. However it is bad business to treat people with disdain because of their class. I believe it is just another form of racism. Until we as a society start putting our foot down and saying this has gone on long enough nothing will ever change. We all need to learn to speak up: The elderly, voters and patrons...Start saying you wont be getting my business, my money, or my vote until you start doing the right things, and doing right by us. You will treat us with dignity and respect. Same and Equal. We should expect more out of one another. Do better. Worry less about profits and more about people. Worry more about people and less about power. It can be done.