Serving vs. Servitude

Today I went to a hospital where the staff is primarily like me - chocolat - and forgive me for saying so, but there was an alarming lack of service. So now I'm asking myself whether there is some connection between being of African descent and an inability or unwillingness to 'serve'? I am forced to ask the question because several months ago, I went to my country's Embassy and had the same dread experience. Service quality: pretty close to zero rating. Everybody wanted to be your chum and was very chatty and so on, as my people tend to be, but in terms of actually getting the business done, pretty close to a zero rating. In fact, it took me four trips to get done what should have been done in one.

So I'm wondering whether, given several generations of forced servitude, given an inherited distrust of 'service', we now refuse to serve? Perhaps we think it beneath us and frighteningly reminiscent of slavery? Now, we serve, but we do so sullenly because we can (no risk of the lash here) or not at all, because who are you to expect me to serve you anyway? The attitude is, "I'm not doing this by choice and you my friend, will take whatever the hell I give you."

The trouble with this approach is that it is self-regenerating. If you serve me badly, you can believe I will serve my clients badly. And so the bad service goes down the line, until the first server is finally the recipient of his own bad service.

Clearly, we haven't learned that "to serve" is not the same as "to be in servitude". First of all, servitude didn't come with a paycheck. If you're getting a paycheck, you're already streets ahead of your forebears, so please thank the Lord and move on. Second, if you had a grandmother or mother, you should know that it can be a wonderful thing to serve others. Think of how your lunch was served on Sundays or other special days. My guess is it was done with pride and joy. I know it was in my family. Still is. Neither of these [pride, joy] is inappropriate in a role as an employee. If it helps, we should think of our clients as members of our extended family, some of whom we love dearly, others of whom we tolerate. Barely. Either way, we do not throw food in their faces nor do we slap it down on the table and walk away.

Based on what I experienced today and at the Embassy late last year, it is clear that there is much to be done in the inculcation of service standards both at home and abroad. The more I think about it, the more I think that some of this is a Black thing that dates back several hundred years. Unfunny story: I once planned a retreat, the centerpiece of which was - you guessed it - service. Each individual was assigned another individual in the team for whom they would be 'responsible'. They were to ensure that the person had a good time during the retreat and that they were taken care of at meal times. This was likely to be difficult because everybody was going to be serving everybody else, but I guess I was going for organized chaos. Well, to make a long story short, guess who never got served? That's right. Me. My assigned person asserted very loudly and clearly to the entire gathering that she "wouldn't be serving me". End of story. She was served I presume, but I was not. And so it is. It takes only one ugly act to tear the whole very fragile, house of service cards down.

So I ask you, what are you doing? Are you building the house or destroying it?