Family Values

I am a pretty lazy guy, but I work hard for my employer. That's just how I was taught. I work for a rather large, well-known retail outlet, we'll call them "House Station". The company promotes excellent customer service, which is something we could all use a little of. However, the majority of employees have different idea. How many of you have been satisfied with your experience at "House Station", "WallyWorld", "Bullseye", or anywhere else lately. When I walk into a store, I want to at least be able to find what I'm after. I'm OK with a little subtle marketing, like placing like items far apart so that I am more likely to buy items I didn't originally intend to purchase. That's fair enough. The company does exist to make money. I don't really even mind too bad when the guy helping me isn't an expert on the subject matter at hand, as long as he tries to help me in the best, most courteous fashion possible.
But that really doesn't happen either.

Americans have stopped caring about service. Waiters are snotty, salesmen don't care if you get what you need, and checkout girls are usually too tired to even pretend to care. If you do run across a good waitress, you probably won't tip her, because you don't care about your fellow American, either. When was the last time that you told someone that they were doing a good job? When was the last time you greeted a customer with a genuine smile?

Maybe we do deserve to have our jobs sent over-seas. We certainly don't appreciate them. The Pakistani guy that helped me with my internet problem tonight may have been reading from a script, and I'm pretty sure that his name wasn't really Gary, but he told me that he appreciated my business. He couldn't help me, so he passed me along to Todd(Punjibar), who could, and did.
Perhaps when we are living three generations to a house, and we are riding donkeys to work and to school, then we will appreciate the opportunity to earn a dollar.

I hope that I am teaching my kids how to work hard, and to do a good job. I hope that I am an example of a good and decent man to my children. I don't have much in the way of material goods, and my bank account balance certainly won't impress anyone. But I have dinner with my wife and kids every chance I get. We go to church together. We hang out without the TV on. My children know that the color of a man's skin is not a reason for judgement. They also know that people and cultures are different, which is what makes us interesting.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no saint. Most of you have read my response to the Anonymous Racist on the Gay Marriage post. I get wound up and opinionated, and I go on tirades here at home just like I do on this web page. I try real hard to make my children understand that they have to work hard to make the world a better place, if only in some small way. I have taught my children the value of service.

People in America are failing their children. And mine. And yours. Politicians, Policemen, Private Citizens. We are all to blame.

We have to stop making family values less a political platform and more a reality. It makes me sick to hear a candidate use the phrase anymore. My family values didn't come from politicians. From what I have seen lately, I great many politicians could use a dose of raising like I got. My mother would crawl on her hands and knees all the way to D.C. just to beat my ass for acting like some of these slobs. God bless my mother.

I worry that my children will have to live in China in order to make a living when they are grown. No one wants their kids to live that far away. I worry that the world outside of our home will be more influential than I am. I worry about this country because my children and grandchildren will live in it long after I am gone. If only a handful of people here are willing to work hard, the jobs won't be here. If we keep playing politics with terrorists, Little Rock could someday be as bad as Beirut. Like Baltimore. Or Oakland.

We have problems here that must be fixed soon, because the future of our republic is at stake. It won't be gay marriage, or terrorism, or illegal immigration that brings us down. It will be our lack of interest.

We owe our children something better than what we are giving them.