HOME | POLITICS | SPORTS | LIFE | SCI/TECH | OPEDS | HELPFUL TIPS
|
Mar. 14, 2010 Drive-up windows began decades ago at fast-food “restaurants” as a way of moving more orders through the system in less time and thus maximizing profit. They were also touted as a convenience and time-saver for the customers. People liked the novelty of placing and picking up their order without ever leaving the vehicle. Now fast forward to the present. Drive-up windows are pervasive in modern American society: fast-food, banks, pay-at-the-pump gasoline, pharmacies, convenience stores and the list continues to grow longer. All of this convenience has had many insidious effects on us. And these effects are continuing to grow with the drive-up phenomena. It is now possible to live a “normal” life in America, for weeks at a time, without ever having face-to-face interactions with other people. Meals are purchased and eaten, the car kept full of gas, checks cashed and money deposited and withdrawn, prescriptions refilled, snacks and motor oil bought, and it all happens without stepping away from the car. This as a new form of social isolation that is hidden in plain sight and it is easier to ignore than to deal with the problem or even admit that it is a problem. Common decency, or treating the person with whom you are doing business with respect, has drastically declined. It is much easier to be rude when dealing with a speaker on a post and a head in a window than when standing in front of a “real” person. This applies equally to the folks behind the microphone and inside the window. The usual drive-up window experience is much more akin to interacting with a machine than to dealing with another person. “Please” and “thank you” and “may I” rarely come to mind during a drive-up transaction. While most folks would never go out to a restaurant for lunch or dinner dressed in pajamas or days-old soiled clothing, they think nothing of going to the drive-up window in that condition. Even normally courteous people lose their sense of values, often without realizing what is happening, when they become “order #291, $5.79 at the first window” and are served by an amputated arm at the second window with no verbal acknowledgement whatsoever. How should we cope with this problem? One obvious solution is to ban drive-up windows. That is not going to happen so another way must be found. The real way to combat the problem of drive-up windows is to remember our humanity. Keep firmly in mind that there is an actual human being behind that speaker grill and inside that window and attached to that arm. Force a little bit of interaction, even if inane, by asking what they think of the weather or if it has been a busy day or by asking their name and giving your name in return. Think about how you would like to be treated if it was you inside the window.
Remember your manners even when that courtesy is not given back in return. When the employee in the window is courteous, thank them for it and take the time to go inside and let the manager know that you appreciate the good job being done. Go inside more often, face the real people and get to know them. It can often be just as fast to go inside as to wait in a long line at the drive-up.
Enjoy hiking and canoeing the Tampa Bay area and photographing the birds and other wildlife. Nature is my meditation and keeps me in balance. Web Sites: The Zen Estate, my personal blog - http://zenestate.blogspot.com/ St. Pete Real Estate Examiner - http://www.examiner.com/x-38756-St-Petersburg-Real-Estate-Examiner Creative Vision Investors - http://www.creativevisioninvestors.com/ Florida Image Tools - http://www.floridaimagetools.com/ Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/john.w.rivard?ref=profile
Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/floridaimagetools/
|
||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
