Disrespectful Assumptions
Almost every day someone says “respect our veterans.” That’s a noble sentiment and a good idea; to which I’d like to add, “…and don’t forget, our veterans are a very diverse group.” Apparently someone in Wilmington, North Carolina assumes that all veterans are male because when Mary Clare Caine – an Air Force vet who served in Kuwait – parked her car in a “Reserved for Veterans” parking space,...
Upset? Angry? Try Respect.
Right before Christmas, we discovered we had been lied to by a sales rep at our cell phone store and, furious, we went back in January to return some unwanted merchandise we’d been told we “had to buy.” But the “lead” customer service rep who was processing our return – despite knowing we’d been lied to – acted as if we were the liars and refused to treat us with respect. And when we got even...
Respect For Opponents?
Respect can surprise us in interesting ways. How many of us would have the courage to deliberately lose an important race to an opponent who’d made a mistake? In December of 2012, in an extraordinary show of respectful sportsmanship, Ivan Fernandez Anay – a long-distance runner from the Basque region of Spain who was running in second place in an important race – deliberately...
Hierarchy Plays A Role in Disrespect
The manager and subordinate I’d been working with as a mediator were both angry with each other. The subordinate felt disrespected by the manager and vice versa. But, while the manager shrugged it off as the employee being too sensitive (and disrespectful), the employee was stuck in a cycle of feeling disrespected and powerless, growing more and more enraged each time the manager failed...
Don’t Disrespect Me, You Multitasker
My good friend, who manages gift shops, was livid: “The next customer who comes in and tries to buy something while they’re talking on their cell phone, isn’t going to get served.” She says people do this to her all of the time and it drives her off the deep end, adding “It’s incredibly disrespectful to me and my staff.” Sure it is. The problem is a person who talks on their phone while...