Do Unto Others

Voice a loud outburst during a speech. Defend yourself using vulgar and threatening words. Denounce someone’s award by interrupting with your own opinion. These three incidents in the last week display an extreme lack of manners by well known people (SC Rep. Joe Wilson, tennis player Serena Williams, and singer Kanye West). Just because they happen to be rich, successful or famous doesn’t give them the right to treat other people badly. The unfortunate thing is these negative comments have appeared all over the news and gave further publicity to people who probably love all the attention anyway they can get it. It reminds me of an old adage “bad publicity is better than no publicity at all.” It seems that these people are used to having their way and don’t care who they have to trample to get it, but now we’ve seen what kind of people they really are. So, what kind of person are you, really? Do you do unto others as you would have them do unto you (Matthew 7:12)?

Poor Customer Service & Lousy Food--OK

Maybe we’ve come to accept poor customer service and lousy food from “fast-food restaurants.” Now that’s an oxymoron since it’s neither fast nor a restaurant in my experience. Recently, a friend and I stopped to get coffee and a chicken biscuit at a McDonald’s drive-through in Deerfield Beach, Florida. The clerk practically threw my change into my hand so that most of it ended up outside my car. She didn’t apologize or offer to give me correct change and closed her window. I nudged open my car door to see what I could reach and managed to salvage a quarter. I figured if she does that enough, she can gather up a good tip at the end of her shift. Then, while waiting in line to pick up my food, we heard the occupant in the car ahead loudly ranting at the clerk several times, “I saw what you did. Where’s your manager?” So, we’re beginning to think all of the employees at this location must have poor attitudes. Anyway, when I got to eat my sandwich at my destination, the chicken was burned and tasted pretty greasy.
Next time, I will examine my sandwich before I leave the parking lot and I’ll hold up traffic getting my change. Or maybe I just won’t eat there again.