Old Fashion Straight
 |
 Folding Straight Razor Old Fashion Style Marble Design Handle $8.95 Time Remaining: 16d 18h 57m Buy It Now for only: $8.95 |
 Professional Barber Razor Strop With 2 Old Fashion Straight Razors $19.00 Time Remaining: 1d 20h 36m |
 Old Fashion Stainless Steel Straight Edge Barber Razor $4.18 Time Remaining: 17d 13h 6m Buy It Now for only: $4.18 |
 Old Fashion Black Handle Straight Edge Barber Razor $4.18 Time Remaining: 17d 14h 15m Buy It Now for only: $4.18 |
 C3812 Old Fashion Stainless Steel Straight Edge Barber Razor $4.51 Time Remaining: 18d 12h 49m Buy It Now for only: $4.51 |
 G3812 Old Fashion Stainless Steel Straight Edge Barber Razor $4.51 Time Remaining: 10d 5h 31m Buy It Now for only: $4.51 |
Old Fashion Straight
Old Fashioned Courtesy
OLD FASHIONED COURTESY
By Will Robertson
When we look up the word COURTESY we find that it means: Excellence of manners or social conduct; polite behavior, also courtesy is a respectful, or considerate act or expression. In this busy world we've created, courtesy is getting harder to find. A door gets held open for a stranger and many times there is no acknowledgement, not even a thank you. Seasoned company managers make appointments then think little of changing the time at the last minute and then a few days later notifying you 45 minutes before the second agreed upon time that "traffic is terrible and I won't be able to get there after all."
End result – a group of executives who locked down their own schedules and changed important tasks to keep their agreements, are suddenly thrown off the train while one person delivers some excuse about being a victim of circumstances beyond anyone's control.
This situation is not only a lack of courtesy; it's a lack of professionalism and will ruin reputations, first impressions, and the willingness to do business after all. Not good for anybody. Time is money. Period. When someone treats others with such disrespect, time and money are lost for good. Not a great way to start a business relationship.
Then there are drivers who cut off 18-wheel trucks that weigh up to 80,000 pounds expecting them to stop on a dime without an ounce of concern that their stupid moves threaten lives, including their own and everyone in their vehicle. Examples of lack of basic courtesy seem to be everywhere these days. And by the way – 33,808 deaths in 2009 on America's highways can't be wrong. Think about that number for a while and see if that fact drives any of us to act with a little more courtesy when driving.
I think there is more of a need for courtesy now than ever. People tend to be in a hurry, stressed out, a bit fractured, unfocused and generally hiding behind excuses for poor interpersonal behavior. One example of this was made clear by an experience my own brother had recently. He has been out of a job for well over a year, in spite of being highly qualified and submitting over 100 resumes to different companies looking to hire his skill set during that time frame.
When we talked about this he told me that of 100 plus resumes submitted only 3 of these companies bothered to say anything by phone or mail to him about someone else being hired. Most of them just ignored him.
This is the point of this article. Lack of common courtesy creates hard feelings, lack of basic respect, and has the side effect of eroding brand identification over time. Remember the old management legends that say "People treated well will tell 10 others about it. People treated poorly will tell hundreds and they will tell hundreds more." I'm a living example of this due to a Volvo experience I had some 25 years ago and I still feel bitter about it.
It seems that people working for companies frequently get paid on time no matter how well or how bad they do their job. When we're talking about working for larger companies, people get hired from the top down and get fired from the bottom up. But firing them takes time and the damage just one discourteous person can do to a company is off the charts, lasting even decades beyond their firing. The net present value of thousands of customers lost is in the millions of dollars, not just one or two customers. Many of the largest corporations in America just don't seem to get this. Many middle managers or even sales managers don't even know what "net present value" means.
In the meantime, if there are no rules about being courteous then many times people just don't bother. The excuse is that they work for companies that don't require them to call or write or E Mail anyone they do not hire. Besides, they are too busy and stressed out themselves to contact all the applicants that did not get hired. Not enough hours in the day and all that.
Let's put that person in the same situation as someone trying to get a job, working at doing what is being asked and trying to follow up only to be told "You'll be notified if we're interested." So let's see now, I spend dozens of hours just getting my name in front of you and you will only notify me if you hire me. Okay. So why can't someone send an E Mail to me and others at least saying that we were considered but there is not a good fit just now and you'll keep the resume on file? How much time would that take since only one message has to be created and dozens of E Mail addresses can be added to the BCC window? In this modern age of Information Technology there's just no reason why people should be treated like ghosts, unless they're standing right there in front of someone.
Courtesy is a mindset, not a corporate culture, although it should be taught to HR staff as an extension of the behavior of the company. After all, people do not forget an act of kindness and it takes so little time to present. It becomes part of the brand of a company. So why doesn't it get done more often?
My feeling is that as a society we have become accustomed to treating others like numbers, not real people, especially when we don't know the people. When we don't know a person it's easy to just ignore him or her knowing we'll never have to apologize for our behavior in the future. The result is we act one way in person and completely different when behind the shield of a computer screen, a steering wheel, a phone, or a company name. It's easy to simply dismiss another person we don't have a relationship with and don't have to look at when saying they're not getting hired. So many of us simply say nothing at all then go home, glad that WE don't have to go through that process. We think about it but quickly push the unpleasant thought out of our minds and get on with living our own lives.
I think we need to get back to old fashioned courtesy just because it's the right thing to do. We need to treat people the way WE want to be treated. We need to slow down, care about others, take a bit of time to show it and sleep better because of the effort. But courtesy is not the sole domain of the company HR departments of the Fortune 500.
There's perhaps no better testing ground for courtesy than on the highways of America. We don't see it every day but the carnage is overwhelming and many of us pretend not to know about it. Yes, much of this is caused by drink drivers and yes, much is caused by weather. But people know about all this when they start their cars.
Courtesy can really go out the window on the roads of America. This may not be true everywhere but when there are a lot of vehicles on the road it's easy to pretend we don't see someone trying to get out of a parking lot, make a left hand turn, merge into traffic or change lanes. Some drivers just pretend there's nobody there and stare straight ahead and hold their ground, not giving an inch to anybody. We're in a hurry to get someplace and we were here in this spot first! I've even seen drivers going 40 MPH through a PARKING LOT!
Then there are the courteous drivers who will slow down, let the other driver in, turn, merge, let a big rig truck driver change lanes, whatever they're trying to do. Everybody gets to their destination at about the same time and a lot of stress gets reduced with such behavior. I can't remember the last time I let someone cut in front of me without so much as a wave of the hand as a way of saying ‘thanks." Still, as my mother used to teach me – "Being a gentleman is all about how you behave when no one is watching."
In summary, we could all use a little more courtesy and a lot less self-centered behavior. Let's agree to treat other people as our relations, friends or associates. Let's agree to stop making excuses for being late or not showing up because we pretend that we're victims and helpless to keep our agreements.
To be sure, not everyone deserves the kind of courtesy we're talking about here. Some people are so arrogant, demanding and self-serving that they need a lecture on decency, not just a country-style helping of courtesy all by itself. But that does not mean we need to drop to the level of an arrogant, self-serving big mouth to be right. What we need to do is be ourselves and show up with dignity, self-respect, the ability to listen, and the willingness to be courteous, even in demanding situations.
Let's also remember that the random acts of kindness we show each other get paid forward countless times, and you could be the one person who started it all. By the way, a few days back my brother received a fourth call from that 100 plus resumes he submitted and the call was to tell him he got the job. He started his new job this past week. WR
About the Author
Will Robertson is the founder and CEO of Performane Strategies, Inc., a business consulting and training firm. He is a writer and business consultant / professional speaker, trainer, and coach for corporate and association audiences. He writes and speaks on topics ranging from management to sales, customer service and personal development. He has authored more than 250 articles published in dozens of magazines and newspapers in addition to film-making and CD / DVD product creation. His nationally acclaimed sales training program "Selling Below the Price Line" (tm) has been made into video programs by Fortune 100 companies since 1990. Will is a featured seaker with many of the INC 500 and at the Business Expo Center (www.businessexpocenter.com) located in Anaheim, California. His program content is also available on CDs, DVDs and downloadable files. You can reach Will at 562-577-7000 or www.psistrategies.com or www.willrobertson.us
Old Fashioned German Shepherds - Old Style German Shepherds