As I said last week, my firstborn has a job. He’s been working at the local Dollar Tree for the past few weeks or so, mostly handling the register, which means he’s up front and center with customers.
I don’t envy him.
It reminds me of some quotes that many (not my son, but others) have uttered with regards to their treatment of those who work in retail…
“The customer is always right.”
“Good service means I can say or do anything and they just have to take it.”
“If they don’t like angry customers they are in the wrong profession.”
These are just some of the things that have been said by people to justify rudeness to people working at a grocery store, or a restaurant, or some kind of establishment where there is a worker on behalf of a business and a customer trying to buy something.
People can be flat-out ugly when they see someone wearing a name badge with a logo on it. Most shamefully are Christians who act like the person on the other side of the counter at McDonalds is somehow beneath them because they are taking orders for burgers and fries all day. My first job was at a McDonalds and since then I have often said that everyone should work there for at least six months, to get an appreciation for just how abysmally treated such people are. It will make you vastly more patient with people in such situations.
Listen to what Paul says about the dynamic between those who serve and those who are served:
Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.
Colossians 4:1
Obviously, the context here is of household servants, the kind that rich people would employ. The application, however, is to anyone in a situation where you are at liberty to give orders, even if the “order” in question is just “number two combo, hold the tomato.” To that end, Paul’s command is “be just and fair.” Why? Because you are not the boss. You may be giving an order but, ultimately, you are not the boss. You have a boss; you have a Master in Heaven, and His rule over your life ought to guide what you say and, more importantly in this case, how you say it.
How would Christ order a cheeseburger, and how would Christ react if the person taking the order was slow or new at the job? Think about that the next time you’re throwing a box of pancake mix and a liter of Dr. Pepper at the worker at the local Dollar Tree. There’s no better place to apply the old motto “what would Jesus do” than when you’re a customer, because that’s usually the one environment where being Christlike is the most absent.
~ Matthew