Respect: Your Relationship with the World Around You

We all have a different idea of what respect means but we all wish to attain it. Many people walk through life expecting people to just give them respect without returning the favor. I have been one of these people and I’m sure you have as well, but let’s look at the real truth behind why we don’t get respect.

I was walking through a local grocery store when I heard a lady giving a cashier a difficult time. The cashier trying to be professional was doing everything she could to make the customer happy. Like any other human being the cashier eventually became agitated and in a polite manner snapped a comment back to the customer. After paying for her groceries the lady strolled over to the customer service desk and filed a complaint to the manager. Now you know as well as I do that this cashier was probably punished for her actions. The lady told the manager that the cashier was unprofessional and very disrespectful towards her. 

Now let’s analyze the situation for just a moment. This lady was disrespectful to the cashier but told the manager that the cashier was disrespectful to her. Do we see anything wrong with this situation? It looks like this woman demanded respect without realizing that she should have given respect in return. She can talk to another person anyway she pleases but if they talk back in any way she sees unfit it is unacceptable.

These are the kind of things that I see going on every day in almost every place I go. People demanding respect from others and neglecting to realize how distasteful they come across to the people that they come into contact with. I want each of you reading this to think about a time that you probably were disrespectful to someone and became angry when they were disrespectful back. If the roles were reversed and it was you on the other end of the register or wherever you may be, how would you react? The person that you are being hateful to is probably only being that way in return as a means of self-defense.

The moral of the story is that if the roles were reversed you would only treat people with respect that treated you in that same manner. It is only fair that you treat others the way you expect to be treated. So if you cannot be respectful then you CANNOT complain when someone doesn't let you run over them.

Be courteous and remember that the relationships you build with people are directly related to the way you treat them as well as the way they treat you.