Just a little bit of respect...

If I have a fatal flaw it is this: I expect professionalism from the people around me.

Whether in an office setting or ordering a sandwich at the local WaWa, I expect people to handle themselves with a certain level of composure and professional grace.

Everyday I am witness to the unprofessional, and even demeaning nature with which people treat each other.

The truth of the matter is: if you want to be treated with respect, you must treat others with respect. YES, your mother was right – do on to others as you would have them do on to you.

 

I had to write a short story for one of my classes in college, and it had to have a moral.

As a professional, I take every assignment seriously, even the non-paying kind. As such, I spent a good deal of time thinking about the moral I wanted to pass on to my classmates. Putting myself in their young, inexperienced shoes, I thought back to the lessons that I had learned at that age. That’s when it hit me; I had the perfect moral, now I just need to write the story.

I wrote about a young man who, fresh out of college, was on his way to his first big job interview. On his way to pick up his new suit, the young man stops for a cup of coffee. To make a long story short, the new girl behind the counter takes longer than he likes and he make a big scene, yelling and screaming until she bursts in to tears. Later that day, the young man, confident that he will land the job, arrives at his interview.

As he approaches the owner’s office, he hears a young girls voice. She is recounting the events of the day and they include the young man’s outburst at the coffee shop that morning.

It turns out that the owner of the company has a daughter who recently got a job at the local coffee shop.

The young man doesn’t get the job.

 

You never know just whom you are talking to, or who else is watching. If you treat every encounter with a bit of professionalism, you never have to worry about it.

Of course, I understand that you can relax around your friends and goofing off is important to maintaining a healthy psyche, but that doesn’t give you an excuse to be rude to the people you encounter outside of your friends.

 

Obviously expect professionalism from everyone around me, but even more so from those I work with on a professional level.

It annoys me to no end to witness unprofessional behavior in an office setting. I am infuriated by anyone in a position of professional power that engages in school-aged banter in the office or airs their dirty laundry for all to see.

Publicly pointing out the mistakes of others is another unprofessional behavior that sends my blood pressure through the roof. That type of correction is counter-productive and does nothing but make the other party feel uncomfortable.

 

So, think before you act. Show a bit of professionalism in the way you interact with people, you might find that it improves the way they treat (and see) you.