so keep counting your death coins..

because you keep living to die.

everything we do is to save our soul in death

then why would we be given life?

do good because its right

not just a chip used to buy your way to heaven.

heaven wouldn't come at such a cheap price.

live now.

glorious

there is glory that comes with victory.

and there is the glory that brings you greatness.

hero

http://www.nbc.com/the-biggest-loser/contestants/current_cast/abby/

"death would be easy, it would be the easy way out. this here. this is hard."
"what ever life i have left, no matter how hard its going to be, i have to make it the most beautiful life."

keep us captivated, keep us entranced, for lack of good attention spans

will we be lucky enough to have learned anything
where is our Scheherazade to teach us kindness and the value of life?
or have we already silenced her?

from the the trenches of customer service, "yes, sir. we do judge you."

Funny , how if we looked at all the people who readily cringe and say "ughhh, customer service,I don't want to do that. I hate customer service jobs." They are probably the exact same people that make customer service jobs suck. They would be the difficult customers with chips on their shoulders, or worse, the entitled ones, the ones go go storming around and yell at everyone because they paid.
But people are like that,by now, it really should be no surprise.
The big service guys never give you the whole story about putting on their uniform. Marriott, Hilton, Disney, Starwood, Starbucks, Chili's... you name it. They've all got a really great training plan laid out, and it looks all shiny and glitzy, they want you to have pride about putting on that uniform and a name tag. For the most part their message serves it purpose. But what they don't tell you is that once you don any uniform and name tag, its open season, you are no longer considered human to your customers and guests.
The way people will treat you and how they act around you becomes the worst form of that person you will ever meet. Usually, people tend to be on what they consider their best behavior in public, because they don't want to be judged by other people. But it doesn't matter how that kids that serves your burgers behind the counter see you, they are just a cog in the faceless, nameless machine you are patronizing. Nothing against the service people, but that's just the nature of the beast, or rather, human nature.
But, we ARE people. We may be paid to smile and look after your needs, but we will still judge you as a person. Just because we are not in a position to give you looks or say anything to your face, doesn't mean that you can behave in certain ways and not be considered a horrible person. Its like eating in the dark, the calories still count even though you think no one else sees it.
It takes a special breed to love this line of work, only a handful of outstanding veterans serve as shining beacons of what could be. The younger career driven ladder climber seeking their own goals, forget that this is what its all about. And I'm sure things have changed since society has changed, and people are more and more entitled, but at the core, its being able to stand there and be treated somewhat sub-human and return the gesture of hospitality. We really should be masters of turning the other cheek. Rarely, do we really succeed.
Guest are increasingly rude, and the service people are less patient. No wonder we have to come up with models and scientific breakdowns on how to offer better service. the reciprocal relationship of hospitality and service is being chewed at on both ends. But i suppose that is a greater issue in society for the scientists to ponder.
The companies will come up with internal marketing gimmicks to "brand service" and all focus on getting the message across to the employees that we are responsible for making the positive emotional experiences of our guests and will reap those rewards. We are taught to be careful and not instill negative emotions in connection with the company name. What the green birds to customer service and large volumes of human interaction, are not told, trained for or prepared for is that the negative emotions and behaviors induced by anything unrelated to you position, hotel or company will probably also be thrown at you too. I've seen so many people angry and upset over the behavior of belligerent guests because they takes this to heart and it feels personal. The defense mechanisms kick in and and argument ensues. Both parties are left with a bitter taste.
Its not the associate's fault, they are their own person and have right to defend their own dignity. But the guests have a choice. They can go else where, there's always another competitor, another service to choose from. The employee has to go back to work everyday to try and over come the bad experiences, and face whoever maybe cranky the next day. No wonder people don't like this line of work. We provide service but we are not servants, but that line seems to be blurred in the guests eyes at times. But when we clock out of work, we are just as much part of the mass market as anyone else. your job is dependent on us as it is the same economy.
The most valuable lesson I learned from a good service leader, was that "at the end of the day it all goes to the name tag". Whatever the guests have done or how they behaved, it should be clear to us that it is not directed at our own person. They do not know us, they won't care to. Their judgment and behavior should not be what I walk away with at the end of the day. Funny how you always learn these things from the guys that have been there forever and love their jobs and continue to love people( bless them, those Florida retirees that work at the park for fun) and not from the roving managers seeking the next promotion. I don't think enough emphasis is put on how training employees to handle bad customer, yet so much is spent on the branding and selling of what awesome service should be.
No one likes to deliver bad news anymore, no one ever did, but its all so sugar coated these days, whats really going on? I guess its not just with customer service jobs, any job actually, no one focuses on the unglamorous, everyone is just trying to sell you how great it is to be a part of the cog. When did everything become about selling? Maybe its because people can't take the bad news straight and move on anymore. We got to get back to accepting the ups and the downs. The big machines can benefit too, you'd have happier cogs int he long run, and they'd be more ready emotionally available to provide "unique welcoming personalized gift wrapped service excellence"
"The guest isn't always right but they will always be out guests" becomes a lot easier to handle as a person, when you can understand that you don't need to "win", because its isn't about you, its about that name tag you're wearing. and at the end of the day, you take that thing off. What proof do they really have that your name is " melvin"? You might have forgotten you name tag that day and borrowed one.
Just because we don't say anything about their bad behavior doesn't make them any less of a jerk. Yes, no matter how much you tip, some people are still assholes. That's not something you can buy your way out of with money.

ichi go ichi e

and I might have learned something.

everyday to do as you would, do as you should

life comes at you and you just keep going.

inspiring leadership happens when there are great people

and thats not something that can be trained, taught or put on a power point presentation over a telecon.

chance/crisis

maybe this is how i'm supposed to live.

old people speak...

resentment will turn you into the very same that you despise.



dumbass.