By Anu Dev
We’ve all had those experiences: going to the doctor’s office, shopping in some store or visiting a travel agency where we probably went through the worst ordeal of our lives because of the way we were treated.
It sucks to go somewhere to do whatever chore you’re on and you end up being treated as some lesser being.
Call me “melodramatic” but after some jarring encounter with a sales clerk I started paraphrasing Shylock’s speech from Merchant of Venice to myself: “Hath not an Anu eyes? Hath not Anu fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases?” As I rise up in righteous indignation, vowing never return to that store (at least not until next week!).
It can really leave a bad taste in your mouth (as bad as Karilla) and makes you wonder if that offensive person had an over abundance of bile. But the thing I don’t understand is it’s not like they’re doing you a favour. You’re paying them for the service. If it’s a doctor, it’s not like he/ she is diagnosing you for free. You’ve already had to wait an hour in the waiting room inhaling everybody else’s germs and now the doctor is treating you like you’re an errant three-year- old? What? That’s not being a professional.
And professionalism goes beyond treating your patrons like they’re actual human beings. It includes things like punctuality, accountability and being able to carry out your tasks efficiently. We really need to break the mould of things always starting half of an hour late in Guyana (and the rest of the “Third World”). Sure it’s a running joke that always manages to get a few laughs, but in reality, it’s a sad reflection of how we’ve accepted our tardiness and aren’t prepared to do anything to change.
In whatever profession we choose, we must always also have accountability. And not just being able to account for finances – we should be able to account for our actions. We’re not living in our own personal vacuums. Our actions and decisions affect the people around us, sometimes more than we could ever imagine.
Nothing has disproved Aristotle’s dictum that we’re social beings. (Incorrectly interpreted nowadays as “political beings”) But it can be difficult; sometimes you’re just having an “off day”. Some days you can’t be all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. But in some professions, that’s exactly what’s expected of you.
To be a true professional, you have to be professional in the way you dress, the way you carry yourself, the way you relate to the people around you. It could’ve been that little girl in the bank who came in with her mom might’ve gotten inspired by the way you carried yourself and now she wants to work in a bank when she grows up to be just like you.
As professionals, you’re representing your profession. You’re the ones who either inspire us to want to do what you do, or who make us swear never to touch, for instance, law with a 10-foot pole.
And in some professions, you only ever meet some of your patrons for once in your life. Do you really want to be remembered as the late, scruffy, sales clerk? Or like Dr J, who can still soar and dunk the ball at 63?