Unnecessary Conflict

I am not usually a confrontative person but there are times when a person needs to speak up. To be fair, 98% of the people I converse with professionally are doing their best to keep it together in unexpectedly difficult circumstances. We all get frustrated! I have endless patience for people who are doing their best not to take those frustrations out on the staff. This article is an expression of frustration on my part directed towards the 2% who seem determined to escalate an already dramatic and emotional situation to inappropriate levels.

The most disturbing trend I have noticed in recent years is how fast a simple conversation will escalate to verbal abuse. No matter how patient the professional is trying to be, the client just gets nastier. In the ER, we encounter people with stable pets who think they have the right to demand the veterinarian walk away from a critical dying pet to talk with them. This is especially infuriating from a client picking up their already treated pet. Often this unacceptable behavior is due to circumstances beyond our control like heavy caseloads and staff shortages. Sometimes the excuse seems extremely trivial compared to everything going on around us. Some self-absorbed twits won't even muster up the empathy to lower their voices when someone else is euthanizing a pet in the next room. We are not responsible for your day not going as planned!

What amazes me is the insensitive, verbally abusive party fully expects to be rewarded for their bad behavior. Why? Because nine times out of ten, they get what they want regardless of how much of a fool they are being. By catering to the demands of the customer, no matter how unreasonable, at the expense of the worker, our society has created entitled consumers who refuse to practice patience or consider anyone's needs but their own. These rude individuals think nothing of the disruption or injury they cause. They will even make up lies to convince others their needs should always be addressed first.

And they do get rewarded because we can't stand the idea of losing "business". For the sake of job security, many workers will put up with insane amounts of verbal abuse because they don't want to be fired. For the sake of the business, some employers will sacrifice an employee to keep a customer. Nonsense!

NO amount of money is worth listening to someone go out of their way to be cruel to others because they are unhappy with their current situation. We are not responsible for your pet needing emergency services. We are also not responsible for the state of your finances or conflicts in your schedule.

NO amount of money is worth people unloading all their anger on social media. Cowards! It's all too easy to shred someone on social media if it's highly unlikely you'll ever see that person or business again. Social media encourages viciousness because the writer never experiences immediate repercussions. So long as they feel better once they've posted, why would they care if that nasty comment was one too many for some poor soul close to suicide? Would you say any of what you just posted to someone in person? If the answer is NO, keep it off social media! If the answer is YES, keep it off social media! Instead, go talk to the person you are trashing and give them a chance to punch you.

For a society that considers itself primarily Christian, we have apparently forgotten the One Rule Jesus left us. Treat others as you would have them treat you!

In the end, it is not only the fools who need to rethink their social behavior in professional settings. It is also the beleaguered workers who need to stop rewarding that behavior and employers who will support that, even if it means losing a customer. I will continue to expect every client I talk with to interact considerately and respectfully, firm in my belief that people will live up to expectations.