Shame On Me
I did it again. I promised myself I wouldn't, but I did. I suppose I haven't had enough punishment yet. When will I learn? Maybe next time I'll know better. These thoughts ran through my head yesterday as I sat in a local restaurant. I'd been in that restaurant countless times, which usually ended with similar laments oozing out of my pores. Each time, I say to myself, "This is the final straw!" Yet, there I was, subjecting myself to a level of torment I clearly deserved.
Some places deserve our business, and some don't. This one doesn't. Bad food, lousy service, poor cleanliness, long waits, and terrible ingress/egress. My miserable experience was capped off by waiting 9 minutes for a car in front of me to get the courage to take a hard left into dangerous and speedy traffic. Just getting in and out is a torturous endeavor.
I'll take 100% of the blame for this one. After all, I knew exactly what I was getting into.....and as a result, I got what I deserved. However, there's something bigger at play. This restaurant doesn't deserve my business, or yours. They don't value their customers, and they certainly don't value their employees. The poor service is, in large part, due to management's unwillingness to adequately staff it. Yet, I'm part of the problem. I'm willingly giving money to this place when countless alternatives deserve my patronage. Every time I visit this place, I'm encouraging, supporting, and perpetuating a clear abuse of people, food, and power. It's exploitive, and I'm to blame. Shame on me.
This is where I draw a line in the sand. I'm apologetic for my role in this, and I hope others feel the same. Instead, I need to be more intentional about giving business to those who value me, their craft, and their people. I want to invest in those businesses. Those are the businesses that have earned the right for me to return again and again.
We need to choose wisely. When we give someone the right to serve us, they must earn the right to do it again. Some do, some don't. I think we need to honor the purity in this approach. It's simple, but difficult. It's easy to say, hard to do. I failed in this example, but it won't happen again. There's someone more deserving to serve me next time.