I don’t know if the stress of our challenging times is clouding people’s judgment or what, but over the course of the last month or so, I experienced several incidents of, shall we say, less than stellar customer service. Said experiences suggest an overall lack of competence, not to mention common sense, which is all the more critical nowadays. But I think it is more likely attributed to a tendency for many to simply sleepwalk through life, no matter the context.
In order of occurrence, my taxes were prepared by someone with a criminal record (though I specifically requested another person to file them), an insurance agent authorized my premium payment to be automatically deducted from my bank account without my permission (which ought to be illegal if it is not), and a delivery person negligently left a laptop package uncovered in the rain (thankfully we were home to retrieve it).
Suffice it to say, that in the grand scheme of things, these types of misadventures pale in comparison to what many are experiencing. Yet it is such times that call for even more diligence when it comes to taking care of business. I cannot help but feel that some irresponsible businesses should close and some incompetent people ought to lose their jobs if they fail to discharge the most basic of duties, especially ones involving people’s financial security.
During all this, I was reminded of the pivotal scene in It’s a Wonderful Life when Mister Potter berates George Bailey after funds were misplaced by his uncle and discovered by Potter himself. In the scene, Potter calls the police while threatening George with charges of “misappropriation of funds, manipulation, and malfeasance.” All of which I felt somewhat applicable to our latest professional dealings.
Whether or not it is a matter of life and death, details matter in our daily lives, and we each need to do our part to pay attention to them, but especially in health matters. As someone has said, “Money is honey, but health is wealth.” So perhaps one of the consequences of this contagion could be that people practice better hygiene and dispense with such courtesies as handshaking. Wearing masks may help for a season, but ultimately our crisis calls for lasting changes.